Azula's Lost Chapters OR Azula's New Cook
by TheDeceiverGod
Summary: Ever wonder what was happening with Azula during most of Season Two? Well here ya are. It has action, romance, an original character, some more action, an evil princess, probably some pain from someone eventually. Please review?
1. Captain Random

-Authors warning. This was written without the aid of my better half, because it hates Azula with a fiery passion. And while it was composed entirely in word so dramatic grammar and spelling mistakes should be few and far between, they still happen. Also this is the first time I've really written as Azula, or used an original character in my writing. I just personally really like Azula, just the only cannon character I can ever really picture her with is Zuko. And not only it he her brother, and while I have indifferent feeling toward incest between fictional characters, it's just kinda cruel to Zuko. Poor boy has been through so much already he doesn't need that kind of trauma. We all know Azula wouldn't be gentle with him. And so! This was born with the original character created and slipped into the holes in the cannon plot. 'Thankfully Azula is a villain and thus we don't know a heck of a lot about her actions during season two.' I tried not to mess things up too bad, but if you think I did something poorly or grandly, TELL ME SO YOU MUTE JERKS! I want to improve, and if you don't tell me how I can improve, I can't. I read all of my reviews, and you're much more likely to get me to change something if you tell me about it. Plus while positive reviews are nice to hear and make me want to work on that story more. Negative reviews get me off my lazy butt and make me change things. And often if I'm changing things, than I'll advance things while I'm working on it. So, there you have it and without further ranting. 'Well maybe a little REVIEW OR I'LL SICK AZULA ON YOU AND YOU KNOW SHE WON'T BE GENTLE WITH YOU EITHER!!'-

-I give you, Azula's Lost Chapters OR Azula's New Cook. Thank you and enjoy-

Azula stormed down the hall, Mai on her left walking a little behind busily reading off a clip board, and Ty Lee hopping along beside Mai, skipping every third step she took. The Princess was not having a good day. Her brother and uncle had escaped her grasp, and the Avatar escaped right from under her even with her friends there. This whole, capture the greatest enemies of the fire nation mission, wasn't off to a great start. And to top everything off even after she'd deliberately ditched the royal procession; some random captain had shown up with orders from some equally random admiral and an excruciatingly pompous and equally sycophantic letter, stating that Admiral Random had sent Captain Random to help her with her mission due to his 'unique qualifications and special adaptive persona.'

Azula's brow twitched. What the hell did they mean by 'unique qualifications and special adaptive persona?' and why should she care. This Captain Random was just mucking up her plans and slowing her down already. What was his name again? T-something… "What was the name of this captain we're supposed to meet with again?" Azula absentminded turned her head to look back a Mai. All the captain's information was on the clip board she carried. Azula had looked over it earlier but she hadn't really been paying attention, the only thing she'd noted was that Captain Random wasn't from the fire nation homeland, wasn't from a noble family, and didn't really have any military pull.

"Tatsuya Shouhei…" Mai responded in her traditional drab monotone, turning back to the first page of the clip board. "He's suppose to be a rather powerful fire bender… He's not a fire nation native, or from any of the noble families in the colonies. His father was just a solider who served under your uncle Iroh, and his mother's an earth nation peasant. Looks like he rose through the ranks on his bending alone…"

Ty Lee, for some reason unbeknownst to Azula, took this as her cue to lean over Mai's shoulder and read some of the information on Tatsuya. "Oh, he's only eighteen… and a Taurus! That's just what this group need's Azula, a nice calm grounded cute boy." She bounced off Mai's shoulder and for a moment it looked like she was going to bounce onto Azula, but she thought twice about leaning off of the Fire Princess, and the chance passed. She ended up bouncing along just as she had before.

Azula's brow twitched again and she smirked back over her shoulder at the young gymnast. "Ty Lee, you haven't even seen him yet, how could you possible know he's cute?"

Ty Lee shrugged as she skipped along. "I'm not sure, but I've just got this feeling. He sounds like a cute boy doesn't he?" She looked over at Mai, who wisely decided not to get involved and answered her bouncy friend with a shrug and a page turn.

Azula paused wondering if Mai would have agreed with Ty Lee or her, but her wondering wasn't the only reason she'd paused. The three had reached the bridge and Captain Random was waiting for them inside for her to turn him and his help away.

Mai chimed up before Azula could open the door. It was still her drab old tone, but something in it was slightly hopeful, desired to be helpful. "It says here he can cook…"

Azula opened the door before Ty Lee could chime in about how perfect having a Taurus cook for them would be because of the placement of the third moon of Jupiter or the color of their auras or some such thing.

The man that greeted with a bowed head and arms crossed behind his back certainly didn't look much like her vision of Captain Random. Azula had pictured him as a somewhat scrawny kid, sure older than her but that didn't mean he couldn't be scrawny. She'd know he was a bender so she'd expected some muscles. But what she wasn't expecting was the near perfectly trimmed hair or rough goatee.

Azula motioned for him to rise after pausing to wonder what it was about facial hair that caused every fire navy-man to obsess over it. "So Captain… what was it again?" She asked as she stepped to the side, letting Mai slip into the room behind her and leaving Ty Lee to stand, well bounce, in the doorway, Ty Lee never 'stood' anywhere. This time she'd actually remembered, she just didn't want him to think she'd looked him up.

The man rose to his full height, he was easily the tallest one in the room, six, six-two maybe, and his bun stuck up and made it hard to tell, particularly from Azula's five-threeish angle. She hated when her subordinates were taller than her…

He wore the standard fire navy uniform, minus the helmet chest plate and gauntlets. All he really had left from the uniform was the padded long sleeve under shirt, the pants, and the shoes. His shirt was hastily tucked into his pants, and that silly man-skirt that the soldiers wore was off center. Really he didn't look worth of addressing royalty, he didn't look worthy of having dinner with his mother. Even his hair was out of place, well three little strands that stuck out over his eyes. Azula kind of wanted to light them on fire and see if he squirmed. He saluted her and began to speak. "Tatsuya Shouhei, Captain of the Chained Phoenix, formerly under the service of the late Admiral Zhao, currently on reassignment to your command Ma'am." And he bowed to her again.

The boy was obviously uncomfortable being taller than his commanding officer. It showed in the way he stood, sort of hunching and standing at attention at the same time. Azula hated that stance. "Yes well… that remains to be seen…" She paced around him as he rose yet again. Broad shoulders, light waistline, powerful legs… She sized him up like he was a show horse, and she needed glue. "As you may or may not know, I've decided to travel only with a small elite team. Any unnecessary troops are to be left behind." She walked around in front of him. He hadn't turned to keep his eyes on her, he either trusted her, or didn't think she was a threat. Both were wrong answers in her book. She glanced over to Ty Lee and Mai, vaguely curious as to their reactions to Captain Random.

Ty Lee was hanging from the doorway batting her eyes at him. She clearly believed she'd been correct in assuming that he was cute. Azula tilted her head, she was looking at him from the side and, his profile wasn't bad. It wasn't one that was going to make her get all giddy and start jumping around like Ty Lee did. But it wasn't a face she'd mind spending a week with. The goatee actually looked kind of good on him.

Mai refused to look directly at him. She was busy pretending to read the clipboard about him, but even she couldn't read at the speed she was turning pages. She was just keeping busy. Captain Random didn't interest her in the least.

Azula continued to circle him. She liked circling people, and things, and small animals, and other creatures she was going to hurt. Though she wasn't sure she was going to hurt this man yet. Sure he'd shown up suddenly and annoyingly, but he did seem loyal. Even as she circled him and Tai Lee flirted with him, he didn't take his eyes off her, or turn. She vague wondered where he looked when he was behind her, but she sort of assumed he probably just looked strait ahead. He seemed like that type. She paused right behind him, twiddling with her hair. "So Captain Shouhei, why do you think you've been sent to me?"

He could have smirked, but she couldn't really tell. "Permission to speak freely ma'am?" He said, without turning or showing any really reaction.

Azula smirked. It was always interesting when her subordinates asked to speak freely. Either they were going to call her evil, which was constantly nice to hear, insult her in some, spirited, manner. Or say something actually worth listening to. "Of course you may, Captain." She crossed her arms and strolled around in front of him, actually interested in what he had to say now.

He half bowed to her again. "Thank you ma'am." His bowing was starting to annoy Azula and it showed on her face. "Truthfully, I'm probably here because no one likes me." His face didn't change from quite respect as he spoke, and that made him appear to be being honest. "I'm young, I'm not noble in the least, the only reason I'm even a captain is my fire bending, and no one under my command likes me. Everyone aboard my ship is older than me, and they all resent it. I mean I've had to learn to cook just so that I can get a decent meal on my own ship. My commanding officers aren't generally much better. They all talk down to me, and treat me like a child." He uncrossed his arms from behind his back for the first time since Azula had entered the room. But he quickly crossed them over his front once he met eyes with Azula again. "I've been told that no one likes serving under you, malady, due to your… unique management style. They say you're… harsh."

Azula smirked at her nails, trying not to look like she was enjoying his tale of woe and how people disliked her. "I believe the term most often used is, Evil Heinous Bitch, but that's just what I've heard." She wasn't a fool; she knew what people thought of her. But sometimes it could get annoying to be considered the Queen of Evil, the evil part not the Queen part.

Azula smirked at the blush that reddened the boy's expression. He clearly hadn't figured on her being so frank about how cruel people thought she was. "Ahem… yes, well…" He actually shifted his feet and coughed into his hand. Azula smirked more; she'd finally gotten to him. "Be that as it may… Neither you nor I am liked terrible, and since I'm the one others can order around…"

"They ordered you to come and work for me, because no one else wants too." Azula finished his sentence, not having the patience to hear him explain what she understood. She followed his logic, it probably wasn't too far wrong. She knew people didn't like working for her. She didn't like the people who worked for her. It was a fair trade. "So, Captain, what did you do to get yourself assigned to my command?" Azula started to circle him again, glancing from her nails to her friends.

Ty Lee had seemingly lost interest in him. She was busying herself trying to hang upside-down from the door way. Mai however seemed to have taken an interest in him, or maybe she'd just run out of pages to fake reading. Either way she now had her attention loosely pointed toward Azula and Captain Random.

"I rose to the rank of captain." He crossed his arms. It was a sore subject.

Azula half wanted to keep prodding, but her utter lack of caring caused her to leave it there. "Hmm… Well, why should I let you join my team? As I stated, I'm trying to avoid dead weight." She leaned against the wall by the door, watching Ty Lee climb the doorway like a monkey.

Tatsuya smirked, a true smirk, one that comes from the deep satisfaction of an expectation. Azula was impressed his face could manage it. "Because, it's simpler to take a fire bender who can cook, than to take a fire bender, and a cook." He smirked again, clearly, he had been preparing that answer.

Azula grimaced, she hadn't been expecting Captain Random to have been sent to her to be her cook, he was a captain after all… but still, maybe she should have read that letter he'd been sent over with in more detail. Wait; hadn't Mai said something about him being able to cook earlier? Azula glanced over at the Goth. She was smirking behind the clipboard. Azula quietly ground her teeth. "Hmm… Fine, you're hired."

Ty Lee was so overjoyed to hear that that she fell from the doorway giggling. She landed on her head so Azula assumed she'd be fine as she stormed out over her giggling friend. Mai followed the princess while Ty Lee collected herself before scurrying out after them. Tatsuya was left alone in the room, blinking and confused.

Azula quietly ground her teeth. "Mai?... Would you mind telling me why you didn't feel the need to inform me that this Captain was sent to me to be a cook?" Azula was not happy.

Mai shrugged as she took her customary spot behind Azula's left. "The letter was addressed to you. I figured you'd read it."

Ty Lee bounced along catching up to them. "Azula, don't you think he's just perfect for our little group?" She smiled walking along side the princess.

Azula didn't even move to respond. One of the good things about having both Mai and Ty Lee around was that one was an eternal optimist, while the other was an eternal pessimist. Mai chimed in with her depressingly grim and grey view. "I don't know… I mean he seems kind of like a ladder climber to me. Plus he's only really a fire bender, and Azula the best fire bender in the world."

Azula smirked to herself. It wasn't true, she wasn't the best fire bender in the world. Her father was a much better bender than her, but it was still nice to hear. "But I won't always be around to bend for you two, and besides, I do enjoy having free time."

Ty Lee fell behind Azula, bouncing around on her right again. "Well besides, no offence, but you don't cook very well Mai, not that I could do much better. So it would be nice to have someone who actually knew how to cook around." She smiled and skipped. Mai normally did most of the cooking when they traveled together, but most of the time that involved simple meals and the only meats they had were what they had bought recently.

Mai pouted. "Hey, it's not like I volunteered to be our group's cook. Just because you don't like the feel of dead meat, and Azula refuses to learn how to cook. That doesn't make me our automatic chief. If having him around means I don't have to cook then fine by me."

Azula smirked, that was settled then, he was in. "It's not that I refuse to learn how to cook. I've just never found it necessary. Besides, haven't we reached a point in time when it's acceptable for a girl not to know how to cook?" She really was just masking the fact that she couldn't ever picture herself cooking. She could care less what people accepted and didn't.

The three girls walked in silence for a short time before they reached the hall with their rooms. Ty Lee was sure to give each of them a hug before they disappeared into their room. Mai's was a lot like her, dark, gloomy, and unappealing. Ty Lee's involved a lot of pink and tended to hurt your eyes if you stayed in it for too long.

Azula's how ever was a little startling. Sure it's primary colors were red and black, it had a huge circular covered bed, but the bed also had a faint pinkish silk drape around it. There was also a large mirrored vanity with a padded metal stool in one corner next to the large metallic dresser. Both were made of forged metal but painted black. To keep the metallic room warm there was a thick heavy red and black rug with the Fire Nation sign decoratively painted in the center laid out across most of the floor. To the right there was a thick lounge chair tucked away in the corner facing the bed. And in the far right wall there was a barrier of beads hanging in the doorway to Azula's private bath chamber.

The princess just casually strolled in to her room, closing the door behind her and reveling in the dark. The only lights were a pair of lanterns on either side of the doorways and a candle on her vanity. She lit them with a dance of her fingers; fire bending had such practical applications. Sometimes she wondered how people lived with out it.

She slid onto the stool facing her vanity and let down her hair. Shaking it out as she grabbed a makeup stained towel from the top drawer and started to wipe off her makeup. She rubbed her lips roughly as she turned slightly in the stool, sticking her feet out to her right as she leaned down and started to untie her military boots. She removed the last of her makeup and returned the towel to its spot, stepping out of her boots. She moved them up against the back wall turned out so they faced the room side by side with military precision.

Azula then reached up to around her neck, working her nimble fingers on the hidden clips and straps there. Her armor went a little slack, clinging to her light feminine form through the sheer fact that it was custom formed to her physique. She unclasped it in a few more places before sliding the shoulder pads off her and onto the floor next to her boots. She tapped her shoulders a few time, stretching her neck and shoulders out. They got stiff wearing that heavy padding all day.

Next to go were the arm bands, effective and helpful they were, but not terrible comfortable, particularly if anything got caught between the guard and the sleeves of the undershirt. Azula leaned the guards against the wall next to her boots. The shoulder pads slipped in between the wall and the shoes.

Finally she reached around her waist and untied the sash that held in place her skirt. The loose fabric fell from around her waist and draped over the stool she sat on and the princess was left in the simple pinkish grey undershirt, and the matching loose pants. The shirt clung frailly to her form as she leaned over to remove her hair brush from the bottom drawer. The fabric hung from her light shoulders, falling down across her budding breasts. The shirt was loose enough that even as she brushed her hair, it only ever hinted at what was beneath, its folds waving across her form with just that right amount of uncertainty. Only ever laying the lightest breath across her skin as she moved about, brushing out her long hair, trying to get her hair to stop looking like she'd had it up all day.

Once her hair looked semi-decent she stood. Letting the limp baggy pants drop off her as she did so. She stood in just her light loose shirt and simple pinkish grey panties, the bold red Fire Nation insignia gracing the crotch. Azula admired herself in the mirror for a moment before throwing off her shirt, exposing her petite breasts to the cold air of her room as she strolled over to her dresser and rummaged through the top drawer. She pulled out her night robe and threw it around her as she sauntered over to her bed.

She grimaced a little batting at the light pinkish drapery that surrounded her bed. She didn't really like having such a dainty thing on her bed, but it did give a certain feeling of privacy from the inside.

The dainty drape out of her way finally the princess crawled into her bed and throwing the blankets over her she laid her head down and closed her eyes. But she didn't sleep; she just looked like she was sleeping. What she was doing was reflecting, calming herself letting the events of the day wash over her and become meaningless. She let out a deep calm slow breath and began to think ahead. That captain, he seemed loyal… But truthfully how much help could one more fire bender be. It wasn't like he was a master bender, according to Mai he'd been rated at roughly the same rank as her brother, and he wasn't anything special. Still she could always use him a live bait or something, and it would be handy to have someone who could actually cook around.

As Azula plotted she slowly began to drift away. Sleep was something all people needed, even the great Princess Azula. And though you'd never get her to admit it, she enjoyed her restful respites from the world. As she slowly fell away into slumber she turned her mind to more, personal matters. Traveling without the royal procession meant more than just cutting down on subordinates. She would no longer be able to travel in the manner in which she warranted. She would possibly have to sleep on the ground. Just the though disturbed her. But in all realism she couldn't afford to bring her well deserve luxuries with her. She would have to find someway to split the hair. Maybe she could make Captain Random carry their things… And while that did present her mind with the interesting image of him carrying her bed, with her in it, it wasn't a very practical solution. His back would give out eventually…

And with that final thought; and a slight smirk. Princess Azula fell asleep.


	2. Meeting Day

Princess Azula awoke. She opened her eyes and took in a deep breath. It was early morning still, that dull morning chill still hung in the air despite the room's utter lack of windows. Azula sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Just a shadow of a yawn escaping from her lips as she blinked her eyes clear; she crawled to the end of her bed and slowly sat with her feet dangling off the edge. The air was cold, and she was still tired, but she was not the type to wait for someone to come and wake her before getting up.

She batted the silk drape out of her way and rose to her feet, letting the drape fall back into place behind her as she strolled over to her adjoined bath chamber. The bead barrier clacked as she passed through it. On the other side was a simple small room, not much bigger than her closet back home. A coat rack stood just inside, Azula slid her robe off and hung it up, exposing her soft pale skin to the morning chill as she strolled to the metal tub in the center of the room wearing just her underwear. She sat on the edge and leaned over to turn the faucet and start the water filling. The water was cold, but it wouldn't stay that way for long.

Azula moved from her seat on the edge of the filling bathtub, rubbing her arms and returning to the coat rack to retrieve her robe. She was fire bender, and thus could control her body temperature, but she'd much prefer not to have to. The princess stood leaned against the wall mirror the coat rack as she held her arms to her chest and watched the water fill the metallic tub. The room smelt of the cold water and the pouring echoed around the metallic bath chamber.

Once the tube was reasonable filled Azula returned her robe to the coat rack. Strolling over to her bath tub and sitting on the edge to turn the knob and stop the water again. Once the water flow stopped she stood, and slowly slid her panties down her taut rear and letting time glide down her legs, revealing the trim black stubble between her legs just starting to hide her thin pink slit. Azula took a step out of her underwear and bent over the edge of the tub; dipping two fingers into the water and with a moment's concentration and a deep breath warmed the water. A cloud of steam bloomed forth and slowly started to fill the room as Azula sighed contently. At least that was one luxury she wouldn't have to give up, she simple loved having a hot bath.

A slight smirk slipped onto her face as she slipped her soft light body into the steaming water. She moaned and tilted her head back letting the perfectly heated water wash the stiffness of sleeping away.

Now she could really start the day. As she enjoyed the warmth of her bath she turned her attention planning for the day. She would have to assemble her team, she had the personnel but she needed the supplies. Captain Random would come in handy for that, she would just have to compose a list of what she needed and then she could give it to him and if he couldn't get everything on it she'd just get rid of him. Of course then she wouldn't have a cook… Maybe if she could just leave him be until she'd seen him in combat, or had a meal that he'd cooked. If he was a decent cook and an alright fighter than maybe she could keep him around. After all someone would have to drive her tank.

Azula sighed and cracked her neck, deciding that Captain Random could stay until she had a reason to get rid of him. Or until he got too annoying, whichever came first. "But what to take with me?... Hmm…" She started thinking aloud; sometimes she just liked to hear her own voice. "Rhinos are so… unbefitting for a princess. And I simple cannot picture Mai or Tai Lee on one of those, beasts…" She lay back in the tub and stared up at the ceiling, causing another burst of steam to bloom forth from her bath, keeping the water just as she liked it.

She lay there in for a shot while longer, pondering the events of the coming day. She'd need to review the scout's reports on the location of the Avatar, then the reports of their progress tracking Zuko and Iroh… Azula groaned rolling her head back. Just thinking this time, there was so much to do and so little time in which to have it be done. Well best be getting to it then.

Azula held her hands in front of her for a moment and with a deep breath she evaporated the water. She lay naked in the metal tub, head tossed back as the room filled with a thick steam cloud. Once again the princess sighed, this though she lifted herself out of the empty tub, meandering over to the coat rack and grabbing her robe before doubling back for her underwear. She threw her robe on and strolled into her main room.

Stretching, Azula tossed yesterday's panties into the chair that sat in the corner. It dawned on her that something would have to be done about getting laundry clean once she and the others were traveling. It simply wouldn't do to wash her own clothes. A princess did not wash her own underwear. But she couldn't very well have the Captain do it. Just the thought of that scruffy boy thumbing her underwear… No she would just have to 'convince' Mai or Tai Lee to do it.

Azula yawned slightly, crouching down in front of her dresser and getting out a new set of cloths. Identical to those she'd worn the previous day right down to the fire logo on the crotch of her panties. She pulled on her new underwear and tucked her robe into her dresser before pulling her new shirt on. Azula grabbed her belt from the stool next to her and began to put her armor on. Unlike her pathetic brother, Azula put her own armor on.

She smirked at herself in her vanity mirror, as she clasped her armor on and threw her hair back. Azula started brushing her hair out with one hand while she slipped her feet into her boots and clasped her wrap around her waist with her heavy metal belt, once armed, she smiled to herself and concentrated on that all important task of making herself look pretty, well prettier. After all, what was the fun of being a fourteen year old girl on a ship full of navy men, if you didn't let them know what they weren't getting? Of course this would be her last day on a ship full of men. She'd have to settle for just messing with the Captain after today.

She dabbed makeup on, coloring her lips and adding just a slight touch to her eyelashes. She then put her perfectly shining hair up placing in it the clip that signified her royal command. Azula pause once more to admire her imposing figure in the mirror once more. Then rose from the stool and, snapping out the lights of her room, she opened her door and went to go wake the others.

Tai Lee was first. Always the earlier riser Azula pushed open the gymnast girl's door to find her doing a one handed hand stand on the edge of her bed. "Oh hi Azula. Up already?" She flipped down to land on her feet in front of the princess.

"Yes… Wake Mai would you, I'm going to go wake the Captain." Azula let a shadow of a smirk slip onto her lips as she pictured all the things she could barge in on in the room of an eighteen year old sea captain.

Tai Lee bounced out of her room as Azula started down the hall. Where exactly was the Captain's room? She knew it was around there somewhere, but she didn't know exactly which door it was…

She was going to just start kicking doors open when she saw the one with the semi-cheery sign hanging on it that proclaimed in scripted red letters that it was 'Captain Tatsuya Shouhei's Quarters.' Azula pouted a little. She'd kind of wanted to kick down random people's doors at whatever hour it was in the morning. It was one of her little quirks what could she say?

Still little could stop the Princess from her chosen course of action. She kicked the door down. It hadn't been locked, which was kind of odd but she didn't really dwell on it. She was more interested in the shocked lump of clothing that shot up from what she assumed was the bed. Everything was in disarray, the drawers of the dresser were open, cloths scattered about. It was hard to tell where the piles of cloths stopped and the bedding started. But the scruffy head that poked its way out of the bedding or clothing piles revealed that the Captain did in fact dwell in this room.

Azula coldly surveyed the room for a second then, arms crossed behind her back she turned to address the Captain's head. "There's to be a meeting to decide which of our targets we're to pursue in an hour. See that you're cleaned and ready Captain." The beleaguered head of the Captain summoned an arm from the piles of cloth and saluted her.

She turned and left the room, letting the door slowly swing closed behind her. Zuzu's room had never looked like that. But then again Zuko always had people who cleaned it for him. She did too of course. It had always been one of her favorite pastimes to make a real mess of her room, piling cloths she didn't like together and lighting them on fire, or just tossing things about so that the room was a mess before the cleaning people came in. She smirked, remembering some of their faces, priceless.

Azula started down the hall toward the kitchen. She let her mind wander from the horrified expressions of her clearing staff. She turned her mind toward more recent endeavors. The Captain hadn't stood at attention when he saluted her. Now the most likely explanation was that he was half asleep and not thinking. But Azula smirked at the second most possible reason. That he had been naked under those piles of clothing and cloth. She pictured all the different ways he could stand to attention in the nude. It wasn't so much that she wanted to see him naked, that she wanted to see him uncomfortable. She pictured that man standing naked before her and all the things she could do to him.

Azula pushed these thoughts from her mind as she walked into the kitchen. Really it wasn't fitting for her to be thinking such things anyway. It bothered her to no end really, but she was a fourteen year old girl, sometimes she just couldn't help it. And that was what really bothered her.

She took her seat at the kitchen counter, a man in a baggy under armor shirt armor pants an apron and a chief's hat was busying himself with something on the other side. "So, what's for breakfast today?" Azula asked leaning her arm on the counter.

"Anything you'd like princess, I have a full kitchen here." Captain Tatsuya turned around and smiled at her. She paused for a second to remember that someone had in fact, run past her on her way to the kitchen. She smirked at his determination. She also allowed her mind to wander briskly back into the realm of unscrupulous thoughts, as she pondered whether or not he had had time to put on a pair of underwear, having privately decided that he had been naked when she barged into his room.

"Well then. I guess this will be the test to see if you stay as my chief, won't it Captain?" Azula smirked, her thoughts amusing her greatly. "So, what do you have to cook?"

The Captain didn't look at all taken aback by the fact that she would be judging him. "I have a platypus-bear egg, some pig-chicken bacon, and various kinds of fruit… The royal barge's kitchen is really much better stocked than the one on my ship. As I would expect, Princess." He smiled at her and scurried about the kitchen, snapping his fingers and lighting a burning before playing a pan on it.

Azula permitted herself to yawn. "Hmm… how about an omelet then?" She didn't really care much. She just wanted something filling and hot. She lazily watched the Captain scurry about, getting the egg out of the ice box cracking it open and into his pan. He snapped his fingers and started up another burner. Starting what she assumed was the pig-chicken bacon to cook. It sizzled nicely as he tended to the omelet's pan with almost loving attention.

She watched the Captain work with half hearted attention. She was mostly trying to figure out how she was going to get everyone who should be at their meeting to report on the Avatar's and Zuko's locations to be there in an hour, while somewhere in the back of her mind she was trying to figure out if he was wearing underwear or not. At least until she figured out that she was still trying. She stopped the moment she realized it. Really, a princess wondering about a man's any man's trouser state, it was just, unbefitting.

Azula snapped from scolding herself when the Captain set down a hot steaming omelet in front of her, next to it on the plate several strips of the bacon. She slowly took one of the strips of bacon and nibbled on it. It wasn't bad; in fact it was quite good. But it was awfully difficult to mess up bacon. She cut of one of the edges of the omelet and popped it in her mouth. The Captain leaned noticeably toward her.

She smirked as she slowly chewed; trying to make it appear that she was truly testing the food. In truth she didn't know the first thing about testing food; she just knew good food and bad food. This however was… decent food. She couldn't find anything outwardly object-able about it, but it was noticeably better than what she was used to either. She smirked and continued her meal. "Not bad Captain. I guess you can stay on…"

Somewhere in the back of her mind she noticed that he smiled and bowed to her, asked if there was anything else she needed and bowed again before leaving. She figured he was just running off to clean up. Maybe put some underwear on. Azula continued to sit at her stool slowly eating the breakfast the Captain had prepared for her. It dawned on her as she ate that she was accustomed to fabulous food from the palace, and had been quite annoyed with the quality of the food she'd been served since she left. While in the meal before her she found nothing to her disliking. The Captain must be quite some cook, to have taught himself how to prepare food befitting of a princess in a navy ship's galley. Azula briefly rolled this thought about in her mind as she finished off her meal and slipped off the stool.

She worked her way down the halls to the ship's bridge so she might find those that needed to attend the meeting she was having. Absentmindedly wondering if fire bending perhaps helped one's ability to cook, it wasn't entirely impossible. After all fire was used to cook, being able to bend it might be an advantage. Azula privately decided that if that was so, than she'd be a stupendous cook should she ever try her hand at the culinary art. The princess smirked at the thought that there was yet another thing she was innately better at.

She strolled onto the bridge and everyone turned and saluted her. That was probably one of the things that annoyed her most, people always turning to notice her when she entered a room. She would much prefer to just slip into a room.

Azula waved the salutes away and walked to her chair at the head of a large table map. The royal barge often acted as a portable war room, and thus it had a table large enough to display a map of the entire known world. Azula took her seat and immediately leaned on her arm, striking that, board princess pose that she knew annoyed all the generals to no end.

She summoned one of the soldiers who were wandering about the room trying to look busy over, smirking as Tai Lee bounced into the room followed by a drowsy looking Mai. "Inform the generals that I'm having a meeting in one hour. All those with information on the locations of either the Avatar or my brother Zuko are to attend." She loved giving low leveled drones the task of running about telling people bad news. Ruining their days, made hers.

Tai Lee took her customary spot at Azula's side, as Azula ordered people about and quite a bit of hustle and bushel was caused. Mai leaned on the opposite side of Azula's chair and yawned, vaguely casting her eyes across the room as soldiers scurried about to follow Azula's command.

It wasn't too long before a whole cast of people shuffled their way in and took a variety of seats around the large war table in front of Azula. It took maybe thirty minutes, during which time Azula was quite amused watching people carry armfuls of scrolls back and forth to those who had already sat down. The generals eventually asking to be excused for a moment as they got up and went to get the right scrolls themselves, all and all it was quite a scene of disorder trying very hard to look planned.

Azula noticed the captain sneaking in behind a group of scribes and take an ornamental position near the door. He was wearing full armor, aside from a helmet, and had a rather impression looking pole-arm strapped to his back. It appeared to be a halberd but Azula wasn't really too interested. A bender using a weapon was, in her mind, disgraceful. Like her brother and his silly little broadswords, he wasn't even good. No, she much preferred the flame.

Once everyone had the documents they felt they needed and had taken their proper seats the meeting began. And quickly fell into a boring tedium like most meeting that involve more than one person with an armful of documents do. Azula listened with muted interest as various generals relayed various reports from various scouts about various sittings of either the Avatar or her brother. Her brother had most recently been sited headed north. Apparently begging on street corners, though such information was deemed unreliable, Azula had little doubt as to what he weakling brother would do to survive. She had little trouble picturing her brother and uncle begging their way from meal to meal. She actually smirked at the image.

As the discussion turned toward the location of the Avatar Azula lost what little interest she'd had. Reliable reports of the Avatar's location were hard to come by, due to the whole flying bison factor. Most people just disregarded seeing it.

The princess let her eyes wander around the room as the reports of bison shaped clouds and bald twelve year olds washed over her. This was boring. There had to be a way for her to get the information, and not have to sit thought the meeting. Her eyes fell on Tatsuya. Still standing in his corner, arms crossed behind his back, shifting his feet as he tried not to lean on anything. Azula smirked.

"Uh, one moment General." She interrupted some general who was saying something about the Avatar being seen over some camp in the southern islands of the earth kingdom. "Captain?" She turned her head toward Tatsuya, and he scurried over to her side, kneeling down in front of Tai Lee so his ear was brought to her mouth level. Azula leaned over and whispered to him. "It has come to my attention that my presence is needed elsewhere. I want you to sit though this meeting for me, and then as soon as if finishes come find me and relay all relevant information. Can you do that for me Captain?" She smirked. He nodded.

Azula stood up. "Pardon my departure Generals, but I'm needed elsewhere. Captain Shouhei here will relay the information to me later, so if you could please brief him as you would me." And she turned to leave. "Tai Lee, Mai." She muttered summoning her two friends after her.

Tai Lee waved by to the collection of military elites and Mai yawned slightly as she leaned off the side of Azula's throne. Tatsuya however was left with a rather odd predicament; there was no empty chair at the table other than Azula's throne. He coughed awkwardly as he unstrapped his halberd from his back and sat uncomfortable on the edge of the throne, leaning forward over the war table.

The entire military collection blinked as the three girls left and the eighteen year old chief/Captain now sat at the head of the table filled with Generals. Azula almost giggled as she exited the room. She knew the Captain would listen to the information and be able to summarize it for her. He had enough sense to be able to do that, but she had also loved the terrible confusion she'd caused everyone, even the one she'd put in charge had no idea what was going on.

Tai Lee leaned over Azula's shoulder with her normal smile on her face. "So… where exactly are we going now Azula? After all… did you like call that meeting?" The gymnast girl blinked, and bounced along to walk backward a little in front of the princess.

Mai yawned again. "Doesn't matter, any place is better than that stuffy old war meeting…" She stretched out her arms. "I was practically falling asleep in there…"

Azula smirked. Her friends always did seem to have opposite views, but that's what was interesting about them. Of course they did raise good points, while the meeting had been unbearably boring, Azula had called it. And they didn't really have any other place to be. Until they knew where they were going, they couldn't very well leave, and they didn't even know how to pack. Of course they could just wander around the ship till the meeting was over. It was a large ship. But doing so just seemed so… un-regal, skipping out on a meeting to play hooky. And it wasn't like they could go torment Zuko like they used to when they were little…


	3. Lunch Time

Azula looked over her hand of cards. First over at Ty Lee, she'd bent into a smooth backbend, put her weight on her palms. Then she shifted lower, tucked her head under, moving her weight to her forearms, then chest. Her legs lifted from the ground naturally, and she kicked them above her eyes a few times as she smiled, looking across at Azula over her cards. The position was slightly painful to look at and it was just a little disturbing that she could hold it so freely.

Azula moved her gaze over to Mai. She was lying prone, facing the chair that Azula sat in. Her cards held lazily in one hand off to the side as she waved her feet back and forth. The three were in Azula's room playing cards. It was Azula's turn. "I'll raise you both." The princess smirked and threw a few coins into the pot.

Mai yawned. "Not that this isn't fun and all… but shouldn't we be I don't know, preparing to pursue whomever?" She tossed a few coins into the pot as she spoke and looked over at Ty Lee.

"Well Tatsuya's going to fine us and brief us on the meeting once it's over, right?" Ty Lee tossed some coins in and looked up at Azula. Who responded by glancing at her cards and throwing a few more coins in.

Mai laid her cards down in front of her. "Well, it's almost been an hour, how long do these meetings normally last?" She looked over at Ty Lee; the bet was getting a little too high now.

"Too long normally, they're mostly just one general trying to convince you that their reports are more reliable than another's too. Not really worth my time. But I guess it's a good way to break in the new guy." Azula leaned over on one side of her chair lazily. She'd forgotten that her friends hadn't had to deal with things like military meetings in the time they'd spent apart. She vaguely wondered what they normally did with all their free time.

Ty Lee flipped over onto her back and stared up at her hand. "I think the Captain is cute. Don't you guys?" She tossed her hand in and folded. "With those charming little three hairs he lets stick out over his eyes?"

"I don't know… He seems kind of… scruffy to me." Mai rolled over onto her back and lay out on Azula's floor. "And what's with the obsession with facial hair around here? What can't you be in the fire navy without having a beard?" Azula leaned over and gathered up her winnings. Ty Lee blinked looking as if it had just dawned on her that nearly every fire navy leader had ridiculous facial hair.

"Who knows why boys do what they do." Azula smirked as she started sorting through the various coins she'd won from her friends. "It's best not to think about it too hard." Off handedly Azula had wondered about that herself. She'd privately decided it was either a guy thing, or the naval officers trying to look like her father without looking like they were trying to look like Fire Lord Ozai.

It was about then when someone knocked on the cold metal door to the princess' room. Now most people aboard the ship had learned quite quickly that when the princess was in her room, you didn't disturb her. However Captain Shouhei had yet to learn this, and thus it was him attempting to shorten his life by knocking on her door. "Uhm Princess? The meeting has ended, if you have a moment I could review the minuets for you."

Azula rolled her eyes, sure it wasn't like she was doing much, but it was still more interesting that having someone tell you about what happened during a meeting you deliberately didn't attend. "You may enter Captain, but please do try and be quick." She finished sorting her winnings, and aside from the fact that he lap was filled with money she looked quite commanding leaning back in her chair.

The captain hesitantly pushed open her door and walked in a quick glance around before he spied the three girls gathered around their card game. He coughed into a hand and took a few quick steps over, caring with him a small clipboard and letting the door swing closed behind him.

Azula smirked at him. She vaguely wondered where he was going to situate himself. She only had one chair in her room, and she was in it. Mai and Ty Lee were lying out on the floor; well Mai was Ty Lee was contorting herself on the floor.

His choices were, stand, the most probable independent yet still respectful, sit on the floor, the second most likely it was respectful yet rather submissive. He may have been her subordinate but he was still and older man, and there weren't many on the ship who would sit on the ground before a fourteen year old girl, even a princess, without a little hesitation. Alternatively he could have tried to sit on her bed, which was unlikely because her bed had that drape over it and he'd have to get it out of his way or pull it down to sit on her bed, and while that would make for an amusing scene the Captain seemed too observant to let something like that happen.

Tatsuya walked right over to her side and knelt down next to her shoulder, his topknot ending up right about her head level. Azula concealed a pout, sure he could have knelt too, but no way would he want to kneel on the vaguely concealed metal floor for very long. "Where would you like me to begin Princess?" "Oh I don't really care… why don't you just start at the beginning Captain, and I'll interject when I want to hear more on something." Azula smiled she was going to deliberately draw this out until he was squirming to get off his knees.The captain put a hand to his chin and thought for a moment before looking down at his clipboard. "Well, General Mao's scouts report that they saw the Avatar's flying bison over the desert to the east. However unconfirmed reports state that those scouts have been over indulging a 'cactus juice' craving… Apparently cactus juice can cause hallucinations, among other things…"

Tatsuya would have continued but Azula interrupted him. She hadn't left the meeting just to be told about intoxicated scouts in the comfort of her own room. "Captain, had I wanted to hear every detail of the meeting I would have sat through it myself." She knew he was no fool and knew that she hadn't actually been needed elsewhere. "Now I left you in charge because I believe that you would be able to give me a reasonable summery of the meeting. Now I wasn't wrong in that belief was I?" Her tone was that special one that only certain people in power were able to use effectively, the one that threatened pain of death if you said yes.

Tatsuya swallowed hard, clearly he was not one who handled threats well, that would have to change as he spent any time around Azula. "N-no, Princess, ahem, well then, I guess, summarized version would be…" He paused to think for a moment; privately Azula timed him, for her own reasons. "The Avatar has been sighted a number of places, most of which we can't guarantee are accurate, most soldiers don't know what a flying bison looks like, especially from a distance. Figuring that they had to just be in Omashu for you to encounter them, the most likely sighting to be true would be the one headed south, toward the swamp. Your brother and uncle however are much easier to track, though we have fewer sightings of them. They know how to avoid our patrols but it seems like they're wandering around in free Earth Kingdom towns, currently we suspect they are begging to sustain themselves. We've put wanted posters up for them, but we don't expect much from those, Earth Kingdom citizens seldom check Fire Nation wanted posters."

Azula smirked a little; just the thought of her heavy set patronizing uncle and dear little Zuzu taking to the streets begging for their food money was enough to make her smile. "So, what do you think we should make our priority Captain?" She smirked, she liked asking pointless questions of her underlings, and it put them on the spot.

The captain blinked and looked over at Azula confused. "P-princess? It's not my place to say…" Of course this was the proper response but quite often Azula didn't want the proper response, she wanted a real one. It was so much easier to read people when they weren't putting on a show for you.

"Oh come now Captain sitting through that entire meeting you didn't think of a single course of action?" The Princesses smirked as she played with a lock of her hair.

"W-well… yes I have given the matter some thought… But mind you only in a preparatory function. I wanted to plan for all possible courses of action." Azula smirked, this man certainly knew how to speak to a superior, perhaps his tale of woe and misfortune had trained him well. At least he learned from misfortune, Zuko just complained about it and broke stuff… "It seems to me, from a planning perspective at least, that the best course of action would be to head south. From our current location off the coast of New Ozai we could sail down and dock at Commander Jang's Camp just inside the mouth of the river that feeds the great swamp. I've already had a messenger hawk sent down to request a report of his situation and if he would be able to outfit and expedition into the swamp." Tatsuya bowed his head a little and avoided looking Azula in the eyes, something about that perked her curiosity.

"Hmm… Jang's tough old soldier, I doubt he'd respond to a hawk from a no name captain like you. No offence of course captain." She smirked, as that had made him swallow hard, he was hiding something…

The captain looked up and scratched the back of his head. "W-well, actually princess, the hawk wasn't signed by me… um… You sent it, or at least he'll think you did." Tatsuya forced a smirk and prepared himself for some pain.

Azula however was actually trying to decide how to react; he'd used her name without her permission. Normally she'd punish the perpetrator of such an act with some light torture, maybe some disfiguring scars, but that would be when she found out about it through other means, no one ever told her when they did something she was likely to not approve of. And what was worse is she actually approved of his actions, she would have told him to do just that had he not already. "Hmm…" She rolled her tongue around while looking at the forced smile of the wincing captain. "Well then I'll be expecting his reply. Nice work captain, you get things done, despite what needs to be done to do so. I appreciate having someone like that under my command. Though next time you want to use my name, ask me. Or else I'll have to hurt you…" Azula smirked to herself holding out her nails before her and inspecting them off handedly deliberately not looking the Captain in the eyes while she threatened him.

A great look of relief flashed across Tatsuya's face, words couldn't describe how happy he was that his confession hadn't been met with a fireball to the face. He coughed and shifted a little whipping the smile from his face. "So, uhm, Princess, what course of action would you like to take?" He couldn't help but smile at her as he readied himself to go execute her will.

The princess pouted. Only for a second, she didn't like being manipulated. She only took some solace in the fact that she knew she was being manipulate, unlike most people around her. The Captain had read her, probably even done some research on her before actually meeting her. He knew just how to behave around her. He even knew her orders before she gave them. While this would have normally been a good thing in a subordinate, Azula didn't like not having control over, well anything. Sure he was doing what she wanted, but he was doing it without her having told him to. And that meant he was acting on his own, and what was worse, is that he was doing what she wanted him to anyway, she couldn't punish that. "Let's head for the swamp, after all I wouldn't want Commander Jang to think I sent him a pointless message now would I?" She made sure to stick her words in him like needles; he however merely bowed his head a little.

"Very well princess, I'll tell the navigator to head for Commander Jang's encampment. I'd estimate our arrival for just after lunch. This ship is much faster than most in the Fire Navy." The Captain stood up and took a step for the door before pausing. "Oh and for lunch I plan on preparing a lovely bisque composed of Crabster meat as well as a few different kinds of small fish we've been catching off the edge of the ship. Is there anything else you'd like me to make?" He smiled at her; much like a caring parent would smile at their child when asking what they'd like for their sacked lunch.

Azula was largely tempted to hurl a fireball at him just for smiling at her like that. Ty Lee tried to chime in but the Princess cut her off. "No captain, that sounds fine." She only decided not to on grounds he might fall and ignite her carpet.

"And where would you like me to serve it?" He continued the smile, completely unaware that doing so might be hazardous to his health. "I could prepare it in the dining hall, or I could bring it to you three here."

"Here will be fine Captain." Now she just kind of wanted to get him out of her room, it wasn't that she didn't like him. It was that she didn't know how to handle him; or rather she'd never encountered someone like him before. Most people spent as little time around her as possible, which was fine with her as it gave her plenty of time to think of how to behave around them. But this man, he seemed not to actually enjoy being around her, or at least showed no sign of disliking it. That was new, and she'd have to learn how to respond to it.

"Very well then, I'll tell the navigator the new heading and then start preparing lunch. Will you be dining here as well Lady Mai, Lady Ty Lee?" Tatsuya looked over to the other girls in the room for the first real time since he'd entered. Azula leaned back in her chair a hand raised musingly to her lips, she was busy thinking, or more accurately, plotting.

Ty Lee had put herself back together from being twisted around on the floor and was currently laying on her stomach kicking her feet back and forth while smiling up at the captain in such a way as to make one question how much sugar she had just had. "Oh here will be fine Tatsuya, oh you don't mind me calling you Tatsuya do you? I mean Captain Shouhei is just such a long name to be saying, and if we're going to be traveling together we might as well be friends right?" She giggled a little and batted her eyes at him.

He smirked and nodded. "Call me whatever you like lady Ty Lee, and what about you lady Mai?" He crossed his hands behind him and leaned towards the girls.

Mai rolled her eyes and shifted to lean on her arm. "Wherever will be fine Captain..."

With one final bow the Captain left, shuffling out the door without turning his back on the girls. It was possible he sensed a fire ball imminent if he stayed much longer. Azula hadn't moved in a while, she was still just sitting leaned back in her chair with her hand to her mouth and her lap full of her winnings, though they clearly didn't interest her anymore.

Once he was gone Ty Lee glanced from side to side, then smiled up at Azula as she rolled into a sitting position. "You were right Azula… He's not cute…" She smiled and hugged herself enthusiastically. "He's adorable! Asking us where we wanted to dine, telling us what he's making for lunch. He's like our own personal restaurant!" Mai raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her cheery cohort. "Well, technically he is… After all he was hired to be our cook. Well mostly Azula's…" The gloomy girl shifted slightly to sit with her legs under her and leaned back on her arms.

Azula pondered this thought for a moment. True he was hired or rather assigned to her elite team as a chef, but he was taking on more than just that, he was acting as her personal assistant, taking it on as his job to act out her will. Not that that was a bad thing, after all having her will be done by large heavily armed men was one of the perks of being the princess of a warring nation, but there was still that fourteen year old girl part of her that was currently on trial for trying to make her giddy. It was that part of her that was bothering her the most. She wasn't use to being a fourteen year old girl, she was use to being the cold ruthless princess of the most brutal and murdering nation in the world. Yet how did a cold ruthless princess react, to an, admittedly attractive older boy who ran around making sure everything in his ability was done to make her happy? "Well… I'll admit, he is growing on me. He's perhaps a little too enthusiastic, using my name without my permission."

Ty Lee chose that time to throw in her two cents. "Well it's not like you wouldn't have had him do that anyway. You hate writing those military request letters, and when you do they always come out so… what's the right word?" She looked over at the most literate member of their trio.

"Menacing?" Mai supplied.

"Yeah, menacing." Ty Lee smiled over at Azula like that wasn't really a bad thing. "Maybe his version will be nicer."

Azula pouted a little, not enough to seem like she was pouting, but enough so that she was clearly less than happy, she didn't actively trying to be mean evil and menacing, most of the time, there were occasions where intimidating someone was useful, but most of the time she was just, her. "Hmm… Still I can't help but feel like I should punish him in some way. After all if he tried a stunt like that with any other commanding officer he'd probably get thrown off the ship, or at least given some horribly demeaning task…" In truth she was still trying to think of some efficient way of punishing him. There was always the ever popular fireball to the face punishment, but something about a fire bender with a facial burn spoke too much of her brother, and she didn't want people thinking she was copying her father.

"You could always make in run around in an apron, or a maid's outfit, after all he is your chef." Mai of course came up with an interesting, if mildly perverted course of punishment. It had its advantages, but ultimate its probability was nil. There probably wasn't a single outfit sufficiently… feminine on the entire ship. Azula certainly didn't have one, and the captain would never fit into one of Ty Lee's outfits.

"No… where would we even get something he'd fit into?" Azula leaned forward; brainstorming punishments for the newest member of her team could be fun. It certainly promised to be interesting.

"We could always make something; I've got some old cloths that we could whip into the cutest things!" Ty Lee was more interested in the arts and crafts than the punishment, but hanging out with Azula for as long as she has did have some effects. "Oh I've got this cute little outfit that I sometimes wore when I performed; it's pink and has this kind of frilly poofy dress that sticks out around your waist. I think Tatsuya'd just look so cute in it!" She giggled to herself, nearly giddy just from picturing the captain in her tutu.

Azula got a kick out of picturing the young soldier in anything Ty Lee'd wear. It was a fun idea but still not a terribly practical one. Plus it required her to sow, which just wasn't going to happen. "Hmm… It's a nice idea Ty Lee, but still, not one that's terribly practical, after all he's still a soldier, we don't want to get him killed. Just… Oh what's the proper word for what I want to do to him?" Azula looked over to Mai, she might have been the quietest, but she had the large vocabulary.

"Tormented?" Mai smirked, it was just that kind of conversation, you couldn't participate in it without smirking at least a little. Azula thought on this for a second. She decided that while that was probably the correct word, she wasn't going to open say so. No one spoke afterward so Mai was forced to continue the conversation. "Well there's always a more traditional punishment. You could make him be one of your throne bearers, a few days of carrying you around with three other guys and he'll probably think twice before using your name without asking."

"Hmm, yes I suppose that would work, but we're to be leaving the royal procession after today, so it wouldn't really be much of a punishment to make him be a throne bearer for one day." Azula thought a little, she played with the idea of making him carry her around by himself. Now of course he could never carry her throne by himself, but the idea of making him carry her around on his shoulders put a devious smirk on her face. Of course she couldn't do that either, but it was another nice idea.

Their conversation circled around like that for another few hours. They never really decided on an idea, but came up with more than a few more, nice ideas. The most popular of which was to make him let Ty Lee fix up his hair. She had several fun ideas for what she could do with his hair, including both Azula and Mai's hair styles. The girls just generally got a kick out of tossing around ideas for the Captain's punishment, until they got board. Eventually they just got board and went back to their card game. Azula continued to win shamelessly. Ty Lee couldn't hold a decent poker face and Mai would fold at the first sign of trouble. Eventually they got board of that too and just started lying around being board.

"So… how exactly are we going to be traveling around anyway?" For once Mai was the one to break the silence. "Because I am not ridding around on one of those horrid rhinos."

Ty Lee thought on this for a second. "Oh… I don't know, I think some of the rhinos are kind of cute… But they do tend to have a rather unpleasant smell to them. I'm not sure how much I'd like smelling like a rhino…" Even she found something to oppose in ridding a rhino.

Azula, now lying across her chair, leaning against one armrest with her legs draped over the other, leaned back. She had giving a proper means of transport some thought but nothing had readily appeared to her as an effective solution. "Hmm… well what other mounts are there?" She didn't really know who she was expecting to know the answer. Ty Lee might know of a few odd exotic mounts from her circus days, but Azula didn't really want to ride around on anything that could appear in a circus. Mai on the other hand might know of some mounts from her books, but would have no idea on where to get such a beast or how to actually ride one. Of course riding one would be easy enough once you had one to learn how to ride.

Mai was the first to chime in, perhaps it was because she'd chosen the subject, or maybe she'd just already given it some thought, but for whatever the reason she spoke up. "Well… back in the Fire Nation there's a large lizard thing that lives in the tropics… I suppose it wouldn't be so bad to ride one of those. I doubt a lizard would smell as bad as a rhino…"

"Oh I think I've seen those! They're really agile little guys, they can crawl strait up walls trees, anything really." Ty Lee smile as she bounced up to her feet and attempted to demonstrate by running up the wall next to Azula, she of course couldn't stick and eventually just slid down once she lost momentum.

Azula rolled this thought about in her mind. A giant lizard that could cling to almost any surface, it sounded almost perfect, the perfect mount to fight an earth bender from. They could summon all the road blocks they wanted and she'd just be able to ride right over them. She smirked a little. "Hmm… if they're from the fire nation then they should be easy enough to obtain, but if we don't head off after the Avatar soon we'll lose their trail." She posed this like it was a problem, but no one in the room was under the delusion that obtaining anything from the fire nation would be hard for them. The only real question was where they would have it shipped so they could pick it up.

Ty Lee looked like she was going to say something but didn't as there was a knock at the door. "Lunch is served!"

It was the Captain, no doubt with his hands full of a full and balanced meal for growing girls. Azula rolled her eyes. "Ty Lee be a dear and get the door for him would you. He's bound to have his hands full."

Ty Lee scurried over to the door and opened it with a wide smile on her face. "Hiya Tatsuya!" She leaned over him as he walked in and took a deep whiff of the plates he was carrying, three trays two in his right stacked one on top of the other, and another one in his left, each with a steaming cup of tea, a bowl of thick creamy bisque and a spoon. It appeared that he had been attempting to open the door with his hip while balancing the trays.

He didn't remain that way for long; once he noticed the door was open he quickly aligned himself as a proper soldier should. He half bowed to Ty Lee as he walked in, chuckling a little. "Hehe… Thank you lady Ty Lee… My hands were kind of full." Ty Lee giggled and meandered after him. "Don't mention it Tatsuya… Lunch smells really good you must be an awesome cook." She batted her eyes at him as he handed out the trays, first to Mai then to her, and finally giving the one in his left to Azula.

He didn't seem to be paying her any attention. Azula smirked as he was apparently a quick learner. He did however smile over at Azula and sort of hung around. Azula watched him out of the corner of her eye while she started eating. She took a small spoonful of the bisque up to her lips and swallowed, all the while Tatsuya watch, clearly waiting for her appraisal on his latest meal. "Hmm… not bad Captain…" Azula said returning the spoon to the soup. "Though I hope you're aware… I do not share my uncle's love of tea." She said picking up the tea cup that accompanied her soup and looking at him over it.

Tatsuya smiled. "I was aware of that princess." He looked up and scratched the back of his head smirking at her. "Though I couldn't really think of anything else you'd like. So I made you a special blend, I hope you like it."

Azula raised an eyebrow at him; no one had ever gone so far as too make a unique blend of tea for her before. Most of the time they just gave her milk or some sort of juice, which she wasn't terrible fond of either. She tentatively took a sip of the tea. It was strong, imposing, with an almost aggressive flavor. "Hmm… It's good." She set her cup down. "But it's still tea." She smirked at the captain from across the room. Ty Lee chose this time to state her approval of Tatsuya's meal, but nether neither Tatsuya nor Azula actually listened to her, or Mai, she never really listened to her anyway. "Mmm, this is really yummy Tatsuya!"

"Thank you lady Ty Lee." The captain responded without looking away from Azula, he was still grinning at her.

Azula smirked and went back to eating her meal. "I think having you around is going to be… interesting." She looked at him without really looking at him. Shooting him an almost playful smile, she was going to have fun with him.

"I couldn't agree more… Princess." He returned her smile, right down to the subtext, and bowed his head.


	4. A Small Elite Team

"I couldn't agree more… Princess." Tatsuya returned her smile, right down to the subtext, and bowed his head. "So is there anything else I can do for you Princess Azula?"

Azula smirked. "Hmm… well tell me captain. How skilled are you at requisitioning supplies?" The captain reacted in just the manner she had expected. His face was wiped of any semblance of a smile and he blinked confused a couple of times.

"Well, actually Princess I've never had to requisition anything. On my ship we've always had plenty of supplies and if we were running low on something non critical we could normally make due until our next shipment. And if we were running low on something critical all we'd have to do was make a stop at the next Fire nation controlled port and resupply." Tatsuya scratched the back of his head, clearly a little embarrassed at his lack of experience. "Though I do tend to be able to get the job done." He smiled at the Azula bowing his head trying not to seem too prideful. "Might I ask, what is it you'd like requisitioned princess?"

"Mongoose Dragons. Three to be precise, you see Mai Ty Lee and I have all agreed that Komodo Rhinos just don't seem to fit the, spirit of this quick precise strike team. They're too, slow and lumbering." Azula smirked, as she continued slowly eating the meal the captain had prepared. She could have gone on all day about how poorly she thought of Komodo Rhinos, but she clearly didn't need to. You could tell just by looking. The Captain had already set his mind to how to acquire the beasts for her. "So, think you can handle that Captain?" Azula sipped at her tea a little, she had to admit, it wasn't bad, for tea.

Tatsuya smirked. "I don't think getting a few trained Mongoose Dragons from the Fire Nation homeland should be too hard." He scratched the back of his head and bowed at little. "Though it may require the use of your name in letterhead once again Princess," He bowed his head a little lower. "And, might I ask when you would prefer them? It'll probably take a few days for them to arrive wherever I ask them to be sent."

"I'm well aware it will take some time to ship the animals here from the Homeland. Do your best captain, I trust in your ability to get them to be shipped sufficiently ahead of our travels." Azula set her tea cup back down on her tray, she wasn't even looking at Tatsuya anymore, she was pretending to be interested in her meal. "And you're welcome to use my name on the requisition letter." She smirked. "Thank you for asking this time." Azula waved him away as she went back to eating. "That will be all captain."

"Of course princess, enjoy your meal." Tatsuya bowed his head one more time and quickly scurried out the door. No doubt off to write a flurry of letters regarding the acquisition of three trained and ride able Mongoose Dragons, and the equipment required to ride them.

The moment the door closed behind the Captain and his footsteps could no longer be heard in the hall Ty Lee smiled and almost burst out. "Azula he's soo cute, and he was totally flirting with you! Why didn't you flirt back?!"

Azula nearly choked on her soup. "Wh-what? He was not flirting with me." She was a little blindsided by the gymnast's comments.

"Yeah… He kind of was Azula." Mai added half heartedly. She almost sounded confused as to why the princess couldn't see that herself. "That whole. 'I couldn't agree more… Princess' line. He was totally flirting, in a weird way, but he was." She tried to make her voice deeper when she quoted the captain and stared over at Azula while spinning her spoon around one of her fingers like she would occasionally do with her knives.

Azula chuckled a little, "You must be kidding. He wasn't flirting with me. He was agreeing that our time together will be interesting." She just could not see what her friends were talking about.

"Yeah interesting 'cause he totally likes you Azula!" Ty Lee would have been bouncing up and down if she hadn't had her tray of food on her lap.

"Tsh. He does not like me." Azula sneered a little surprised at how convinced Ty Lee was of the Captain's feelings. "No one ever likes me…" She added, too quiet for anyone but her to hear, she didn't really know why she added it, but she did.

Mai was for once the one convince Azula of something good. "Apparently he does. Don't ask me why but he's been being pretty clear about it…"

Azula thought on this, sure the Captain had been, accommodating, more than accommodating. He'd even risked the punishment of barrowing her name without approval, just to get information but still it was an offence that could have gotten him seriously punished. Though that was hardly a good basis for a relationship, perhaps there was some merit to what the two girls were saying. "Well, whatever the captain's feelings for me, now isn't the time to discuss them," Azula stood up, setting the empty lunch tray on the floor next to her chair. "We should be arriving at Commander Jang's Camp soon, the Captain said he expected us to be there after lunch, and lunch is over." And with that Azula crossed her arms behind her and walked out. Ty Lee and Mai quickly gathered themselves and followed her. They didn't know where exactly she was headed and to be perfectly honest neither did she. She'd just wanted to end the conversation. Though she was also a quick thinker, and she had her destination in mind before she'd lost sight of her door. The princess strolled into the bridge of her ship, looking around at the rather unexciting display around her. Most of the crew was out doing other things, and the generals who had appeared for her meeting had returned to their own ships and set off for their own destinations. "What's the hold up? We should have been in port by now." She said with that authoritative voice that told you someone was in trouble, and that that someone probably wasn't going to be seen again. There was some frightened scurrying about, which made Azula smirk, and then one no name navigator hesitantly walked up to the princess and her friends.

The boy stuttered he couldn't have been much older than the girls; he was probably just entering his twenties. "W-well… p-princess… it's the dock…" He coughed and cleared and his throat trying to look like he wasn't as afraid of her as he was. He swallowed hard. "Well, Princess, their dock is small; they're mostly used to simple supply ships or galleons. It's taking a while for them to rearrange themselves that there might be space for the royal barge to dock."

Azula rolled her eyes. This was exactly why she was leaving the royal procession behind. There couldn't be a dock in a world what would have room for a four person skiff, or at least no dock that she could possibly have business in. "Well, tell them to hurry it along. The sooner we dock the sooner we can begin pursuing the Avatar." Azula winced a little thinking of how much she must have sounded like her brother saying that. She sighed and shrugged it off before giving the people on the bridge the once over. "Oh and where's Captain Shouhei?" She asked out of plain curiosity, but the reaction her question spurred from Ty Lee, Mai had no reaction she never did, made her want to explain herself. "I ask because I don't see him here, and I was under the impression he was handling the acquisition of our mounts."

The look on the navigator's face told that he had no knowledge of what the Captain was supposed to be doing and felt quite angered by the fact that he'd been kept out of the loop. "Uhm… well I believe captain Shouhei is in the hold. I'm not certain what it is that he's doing there, but I'm not aware of what he's currently assigned to."

Azula looked like she was going to kill something. Which had there been anything readily available she probably would have, but good navigators were hard to find, particularly if they got wind that the reason you needed a new one was because you incinerated the last one. "T-thank you…" She was going to thank him by his rank but didn't really remember what his proper rank was nor did she particularly care. Right now she cared that Shouhei had lied to her. He was supposed to be acquiring mongoose dragons for them to ride, and instead he was in the hold doing Ozai knows what, probably gambling with the rest of the slackers. "Th-thanks whatever your name is." Azula waved the navigator away. "Excuse me I have someplace to be." It was clear that she meant, she had someone to kill, but the navigator was just thankful he'd been released from his conversation with the princess unscathed. He scurried away and she stormed down the hall to the stairs that lead to the hold so she could 'discipline' the young captain. Mai followed with her muted disinterest with which she addressed the entire world and Ty Lee bounced after the other two girls with her bubbly optimism with which she addressed the world. Azula was currently debating the best way to injure the captain without actually hindering his ability to do his job. She'd almost decided on incinerating his stupid little goatee when she reached the hold.

Several men scurried out of her sighed faster than the mole-rats, extinguishing whatever it was that they were smoking and hiding whatever it was that they were drinking. They're card game was till laid out on the upturned supply crate they'd been sitting around. Azula looked around, and glared at one of the more intoxicated men who had failed to clamor away from her. "Where's Captain Shouhei." She said like that in and of itself was a death threat. The drunken seaman just shuddered and pointed deeper into the hold. Azula growled to herself and marched in toward the clearing in the center of the hold.

Ty Lee blinked at her surroundings, possibly just recently realizing they were in the hold. "Hey, what are we doing here Azula?"

Mai rolled her eyes as they followed Azula. "Azula's here to hurt and or kill Captain Shouhei, probably because we said he likes her."

"Well that's a horrible thing to do!" Ty Lee looked only somewhat shocked that Azula would do such a thing. "Azula you're not really going to kill him just because he likes you? …Are you?"

Azula looked back at her friend and gave what was her equivalent of a comforting smirk. "Oh no don't worry Ty Lee… he's just slacking off and I'm here to put an end to it is all." Somewhere along her sentence her smirk changed from comforting to disturbing, but it was whipped completely off her face as she walked into the hold's clearing.

Tatsuya was standing, well kneeling, along the side of what had clearly once been a large metal shipping crate. He was fire bending a small flame in his hand and was using it to attach a third wheel to the crate. It seldom resembled a crate anymore, it was somewhere between crate and carriage. And while the craftsmanship was second par at best it looked sturdy and had a door and three windows cut into the walls of the crate. Azula stood there a little shocked, she had honestly thought he was slacking off and had already peg him as a ladder climbing brownnoser, but he was really working on something that actually looked like something she might consider riding in, once it was properly furnished.

The captain spun the wheel he was attaching once, it seemed to catch a little going around but it rotated fine. Azula walked in to full view a pleasant smirk on her face. "So… this is what you've been spending your time on is it captain?"

She had that catlike tone that told you she wasn't actually asking a question so much as toying with you, but the captain just whipped back his hair and smirked, standing to attention quickly."P-princess… I erm wasn't expecting you." He tentatively rubbed the back of his head, it was clear he'd been working hard from the obscene amount of sweat on his brow. His hair was almost glued to his head from him whipping it out of his face as he worked.

Azula walked past him and laid her hand on the doorknob of his stitched together carriage. "Yes well. I was a little confused when I didn't find you on the bridge. I thought you would be there acquiring our mounts?" She opened the door just a crack to see how well it actually moved, it didn't look like it but it was actually quite easy to open, then she began to pace around the collage of a carriage. Ty Lee and Mai remained a few steps back from Captain and his structure.

"Yes well, I sent out some hawks but I don't imagine I'll hear back for a day or two, and until then I assumed that you would still require a mode of travel befitting of your…" The Captain paused to find the right word, one that would express his loyalty and respect, without either making her mad at him or giving her reason to incinerate him. "Persona." He rubbed his face with a rag, cleaning off some of his sweat as he watched the princess inspect his labor. "I was kind of planning on surprising you with this carriage, I based it off of the rickshaws they use in the capital city only I tried to make it longer so that all three of you could ride in it, and rather than four people it'll be towed by a Komodo Rhino… but all I had to work with was an empty shipping crate and the cargo carts here in the hold. The workers here in the hold weren't really too please with me cutting up their carts either…" He rubbed the back of his neck a little self conscious over all the trouble he'd cause by trying to make the carriage.

Azula rounded the back of the carriage just in time to see Ty Lee elbow Mai over Tatsuya's 'I wanted to surprise you' line. Azula just rolled her eyes and stored away a few dozen reasons why he would say that, other than if he liked her. "Well, that certain was… productive of you Captain." She continued to circle the carriage until she reached him again. "Though it will of course have to be furnished to my liking, it should provide adequate travel means until we acquire the mongoose dragons. But on to more present matters," The princess waved her hand under her nose a few times. "You stick to high heaven Captain. I certainly hope you're not going disembark before taking a shower." Azula loved to make men squirm, and if he did like her, then this was only all the more fun.

And squirm he did, the background giggling provided by Ty Lee only made him wriggle all the more. He took a step back from the princess and coughed into his rag, unable to look her in the eye as he made it a point to hold his arms at his sides. "Erm… yeah well… I was planning on taking a quick shower before disembarking. But I wanted to get the carriage finished first, it just needs a few more adjustments and it should be ready for use."

Azula smirked at his squirming and walked back over to her friends. "Well be sure to complete it captain, I'll send orders for how it should be furnished after we dock. Until then I shall be in my room, though I expect to be informed the moment we're docked." Tatsuya nodded. "Of course princess, anything else before I return to work?" He was squirming a little less as he kneeled back down to the side of the carriage.

Ty Lee chose this moment to bounce past Azula and lean over his shoulder. "So… do you like spend all your time thinking of how you can help Azula?" She was remarkably strait forward. Apparently Azula was really the only one in her group with any tact.

The captain blinked at the gymnast girl that was leaning over his shoulder without actually touching him. He smirked. "Well, she is the princess of the fire nation, the most powerful nation of the world, and the rightful heir to the throne. I joined the service to do what I could for my nation, and I can think of no better way to serve the throne, then to serve its rightful heir." Tatsuya smiled and relit his fire torch in his hand. Ty Lee blinked and shrugged bouncing back from him and returning to her friends. Azula was already leaving and Mai was close behind her.

The three girls left the hold in silence. Though once they returned to the live quarters' halls Mai actually spoke up, "That man seems loyal to a fault. I'd hate to see Zuko convince him he's still the 'rightful heir,' it could be dangerous."

Azula smirked, everyone knew that her brother had been dishonored and banished, and as things were now, he was even a criminal. There was no way he could ever be considered the rightful heir to anything anymore. "You worry too much Mai… Zuzu's been dishonored and exiled, there's no way he could be considered the rightful heir unless by some miracle he capture or kills the Avatar. And since we're chasing him, there's no way Zuzu will get his hands on him." Azula watch Mai hide her sorrow over the truth of the matter. She knew Mai liked Zuko. "And besides, I have a way of conveying the values of loyalty to those that serve under me." The two girls looked at each other a little confused by Azula's statement. Mai shrugged and Ty Lee reverted back to her bubbly happiness, never straying from it for very long for any reason anyway.

A few hours later there was a knock on Azula's door. The girls had returned to the princess's bed chamber to pass the time. Their conversations could be simplified as bubbly gushing over how clear it was that Captain Shouhei liked Azula on the part of Ty Lee, skeptical agreement and a few actually good points from Mai, and calm argument with the occasional covert death threat from Azula.

"Princess Azula? We've finished docking, and I've finished your carriage. I've had it unloaded and stocked, but I still need to know how you would like it to be furnished." The Captain's voice said from the other side of Azula's large metal door.

Azula smirked and walked over to her door, Ty Lee and Mai stood up, they'd been gathered around her chair in their usual sitting position.Azula swung the door open and smirked at the, clearly recently washed, Captain. His hair was still damp and his armor looked like it had just been shined. None of which particularly interested Azula, she just walked right past him, her arms crossed behind her back. "First off I'd like my chair brought with us." She smirked a little as he leaned into her room and inspected her chair.

"That should be simple enough." The Captain responded as he moved in behind the girls. He was walking behind the three of them almost direction in the shadow of the princess. The four of them were an odd group as though Azula was clearly their leader, Tatsuya was the largest.

"Oh I don't know…" Azula had only really cared that she got her chair, after all she figured if she was going to be spending all their traveling time, and possible sleeping time, in the carriage the Captain had built by himself, she wanted to be comfortable. "There anything you two would like to bring?" She looked back at her bubbly gymnast friend and the depressingly monotone goth girl.

Ty Lee lit up and beamed at Azula. "O O! Can we bring my incent burners?! Oh and my bean chairs and pillows?!"

Azula looked back at Tatsuya, he was the one who made the thing, he would know better than anyone what could be put in it. Tatsuya smirked and nodded. "Sure, I don't see why not." And earned himself a hug from Ty Lee, she wrapped her arms around his neck and nearly knocked him over as she tackled him. Mai rolled her eyes as the gymnast released the captain.

"I wouldn't mind have some reading material while we travel." She shrugged a little but Tatsuya nodded to her.

"Well if that's all?" He paused to make certain it was, no one could think of anything else they'd like to travel with so none of the girls said anything. "Ladies," He bowed to Mai and Ty Lee, taking a step back to do so. "Princess," He bowed to Azula looking her in the eye before he did so. She yawned a little."I'll go make the arrangements. I'll be on the docks managing the unloading." He bowed to all three before turning around and heading off.

Azula sighed and rolled her eyes as she and her friends continued down the hall in the other direction. They were headed for the ramp down to the docks from the stern. The Captain was probably headed for the hold to take a ride on the freight crane as he supervised the offloading. Azula smirked a little as he was clearly having a good time with his new unofficial rank boost. He was still a just a captain on the books but since he was working under, as he put it, the rightful heir to the throne of the most powerful nation in the world, people were clearly listening to his 'requests.' It wasn't long before Tatsuya had the carriage off loaded and furnished to the girls' liking. The crew seemed almost, excessively helpful in this endeavor. It was probably because they all wanted to get Azula set and sent off and then get as far away from the princess as they possibly could. Azula, Mai and Ty Lee merely watched from the deck of the ship. Ty Lee eventually got board and started doing cartwheels from one side of the ship to the other. Azula got board too, but then she 'accidentally' tripped Ty Lee and caused her to go sailing off the edge of the ship and land with a loud splash in the bay. Several soldiers rushed over to help her but Tatsuya was finished with the carriage so Azula and Mai simply walked down the gangplank, well Mai walked, Azula more, sauntered. "Come now Ty Lee, this is no time to be getting all soggy. We're prepared to leave?" Azula timed her question perfectly so that she finished right when the captain ran up to see what was happening. He nodded with a smile. "Right then, come on girls. We've got an Avatar to chase down."


	5. Nerves and Knives

A full day later still weren't talking much. Their group had sort of split along the same lines that school yards across the world inevitable split. Girls Vs boys, unfortunately for Tatsuya, he was the only boy. He also was the only one who didn't ride in the carriage; he rode on the rhino that drew the carriage, and he had been, for the past day. Frankly Azula was a little impressed he was still able to use his legs. She'd been dozing off whenever she really felt like it along their trip, she'd slept in her chair before, and it was a little easier with the gentle back and forth rocking of the carriage.

Another bright side was that they didn't have much trouble with anyone they passed by. The large Komodo-Rhino thundering past mounted by a fire nation soldier in full armor, minus the helmet, with a six foot long pole-arm strapped to the back of his saddle drawing a metal carriage that's roof was stacked high with a good month's worth of supplies, was quite an imposing sight and most people, Fire Nation allies or otherwise, stayed away from it. Some people even went off the road to get around them. Azula found that particularly amusing.

Ty Lee seemed to be enjoying herself too. The carriage was virtually filled with her lush pillows and bean-filled chairs, aside from Azula lounge chair, and in the frequent moments when Azula was ignoring her babble about how hawt the captain was for her, Ty Lee amused herself by launching herself from one pile of pillows to another. Azula was sitting in her chair in the back of the carriage; her chair was a lot like a throne. She towered above the other girls who each sat in or on, one of the bean filled bags that Ty Lee made them bring. Mai sat on princess's left farthest from the carriage's one door, and sort of wedged in the back corner with her stack of fifty books. Light reading she called it. Someone clearly wasn't expecting much action in the hunt for the world's last hope against the Fire Nation. Still it wasn't like they'd have terribly much that was interesting to do. Mai had her books, and Ty Lee was easily amused anyway. But Azula was board, and that was never a good thing. She found herself eyeing the back of the Captain's head. She hadn't yet decided if it was because Ty Lee had been ranting about his undying love for her for the past thirty seven hours, she'd gotten a late start. Or if it was because she'd been staring at the back of his head for almost as long, the window dead in front of her chair looked out behind the rhino that toed her carriage, and there for the man who rode on it.

The princess had to admit, the back of his head wasn't that bad an angle on him. He had strong shoulders, but of course he had strong shoulders. He was a soldier; it was his job to swing large heavy metal weapons around and try not to get hit by other people's large heavy probably not metal weapons. Having strong shoulders was probably an advantage.

Azula shook her head. She shouldn't be thinking thing like that. His shoulders were nothing special, just a place for his head to sit. It was all Ty Lee's talk that had gotten her thinking things like that. She needed to think of something more… her. She let her eyes wander around her surroundings. Pillows, Books, Mai, Ty Lee, a window with boring earth kingdom land outside, more pillows, another window with different boring earth kingdom dirt outside, and the window with the back end of a rhino and Tatsuya outside it. Azula found her eyes staring a hole in the back of his head again and sighed; she gave him a quick glance over and finally found something she could live with herself thinking about, his halberd. It was nice, long, pointy, and sharp. Very sharp from the looks of it, and it clearly wasn't the standard cleaver of a halberd that the military gave its soldiers. This was custom made. Rather than a spear tip capping its reverse end it had something shaped more like a scorpion-badger's sting curved toward the front of the blade, but sharpened on the backside. Azula licked her lips thinking of how that blade would be able to slip into the gaps between armor and then cut a deep gash on its way out. Azula was slightly tempted to want to try it out. The princess surveyed the staff, slowly raking her eyes along it. The grip was wider than most, most weren't wide enough for two hands to grip there properly; this one looked like five fists could hold it and it'd still have some space on either side. She wondered vaguely if there was a reason for that, or if it was just a stylistic. If it was just stylistic she decided it was stupid, it was just giving your opponent more area to try and grab your weapon, but if it had a reason, she was very curious as to what that reason was.

Azula's eyes followed the staff up to the blade head. It was wide, probably larger in all dimensions compared to the standard halberd of the fire nation. The head was crafted to resemble the center of the tree pronged fire nation symbol. The long front edge was sharpened into the blade of the weapon, while the back end with the circular bite out of it was also bladed; it curved back and had a small dagger like blade extending down. Both the inside of the curve and the back edge of the head was sharpened. She smirked picturing the many ways that curved backend could be used. Hook it over someone's shoulder and pull back, at worst you'd just stab into their back and made leave a sizable gash in their shoulder. At best you'd take their entire arm off. The princess licked her lips picturing that heavy metal blade hooking around someone's neck; it would just take the proper shift in leverage.

She looked over the weapon as a whole. It would be top heavy due to the larger than average head, and the top was only remotely pointed slowly curving down from the top to resemble the flame at the center of the fire nation crest. It could be used to stab with, but it wouldn't be terribly effective. That was the purpose of the small dagger on the rear, though even it wouldn't be a particularly effective stabbing weapon. Its curve would make it far more effective when used to hook into armor with a backward swipe. All and all it was a very well balanced weapon, though one that would be difficult to handle. Azula was slightly interested in seeing him wield it; she wondered just how talented her chief was. He'd been cross that others belittled him; perhaps he had reason to be. Either way he certainly had good taste in weaponry, on some level Azula wanted to try out his blade. She at least wanted to know where he'd gotten it. That and break the horrid silence that seemed to be plaguing their trip thus far.

The princess stood up, which drew the attention of her two comrades, well it drew Ty Lee's attention, Mai only really looked at her out of the side of her eyes before going back to reading. "Captain, where did you get your halberd?" Azula asked as if she didn't really care and was just using it to spark conversation.

Unfortunately Azula's voice, while being many things, was not in anyway, loud, and Tatsuya was riding a very loud Komodo Rhino toeing a metal box version of a carriage behind it. He looked back at her over his shoulder. "I'm sorry?! What was that Princess?!" He only knew it was her speaking because she was leaning in the window that looked straight out at him. He'd put it in so she could see where they were going and give him orders, but he hadn't thought that he might have problems hearing her.

Azula groaned quietly, maybe there was another reason other than the gender barrier that had kept conversation from happening. Thankful Ty Lee chose that moment to speak up. "Hey Azula, I'm getting kind of hungry. Do you think we could stop for lunch sometime soon?" The gymnast looked hopefully up at her mildly megalomaniacal friend.The princess rolled this around in her mind, she could go for a bit of a meal, and though she hated to admit it, the captain was a good cook. "Captain! Lunch!" She yelled out the window at him.

"Ah yeah I guess it is getting around that time huh?!" He smiled laughing lightly a little as he pulled the Rhino off the side of the road and slowed the lumbering beast to a halt.

As the Rhino carriage rocked to a halt Mai and Ty Lee stood up. Mai stretched a little. "Uh… this thing rocks worse than the royal barge." She sighed a little and stretched out her back. "It's so hard to read when the book's waving back and forth." The goth girl yawned a little and walked over to the carriage door with her friends.

Azula was the first out; she hoped off the slightly raised carriage and looked around. It was the same old boring earth kingdom terrain, rocks, trees, shrubs, small furry animals scurrying to hide, more rocks. Yep the same earth kingdom terrain. Where was the volcanic steam vents, the dried lava paths, or the fertile volcanic ash forests?

Ty Lee was next out she bounced off the step and ran out marveling around at the terrain, taking particular notice of the animals. "Aw! Don't you just love the Earth Kingdom? Just look at all these lovely trees and those adorable little critters?! Hello little critters!" She then proceeded to run around giggling like a school girl as she chased the small creatures of the Earth Kingdom.

"What's so great about it? Rocks, trees, and filthy wild animals, we have those back in the Fire Nation." Mai she sort of sauntered out of the carriage, just far enough so that she could lean back against it as she surveyed the scenery with her standard disinterest.

"I don't suppose you've ever seen the Fire Nation homeland have you captain?"

Azula smirked a little as Tatsuya dismounted the Komodo Rhino, removing his halberd from the saddle and spinning it onto his back before walking over to the princess. "I'm afraid I've never had the chance princess. I was born in the colonies as you know, and I've never had the opportunity or the funds to visit the homeland, though my shipmates have told me all about it."

"Hmm yes well… words can only describe so much I'm sure." Azula smirked a little wiping a stray hair from her face.

The captain smirked a little. "I suppose you're probably right princess." Tatsuya smiled at her a little and put his hands on his hips. "So, what would you ladies like for lunch?"

"Oh can we have a picnic Tatsuya?!" Ty Lee bounced up from harassing some poor unfortunate animal and scurried over to the captain and the princess. Azula rolled her eyes, Mai sighed, Tatsuya smiled and nodded. "Oh yey!" The gymnast girl launched herself on the captain. "Thank you Tatsu!"

Azula sighed and rubbed her temples. Ty Lee could be such a hassle sometimes, but it wasn't really of any importance what they ate. The captain's reaction was more fun to watch anyway. He first blinked a little shocked as the younger girl tackled him. Then he chuckled lightly and gently removed her from him. "Alright Lady Ty Lee, just let me get a few things from on top of the carriage." Ty Lee nodded and went back to harassing any animals that were too slow, or too stupid to run from her.

Tatsuya proceeded to climb the side of the carriage, taking hold of the top then getting a foot up in one of the windows before climbing onto the roof. He had one foot on the front end and one foot on the corner he'd climbed up as he rummaged through the packing. The angle gave the three girls on the ground a full view up that ridiculous little armored skirt that all soldiers of the fire nation wore. Azula rolled her eyes and went to go find something to hurt. Ty Lee giggled a little before some critter caught her eye. Mai scoffed and went back inside the carriage to read.

The captain loaded up his arms with several things. A large rolled up blanket displaying the Fire Nation crest, a cutting board and a set of kitchen knives. He hopped off the carriage and piled the things together before climbing back up.

"Aw!! He's so cute! Mai, Azula, come look at this!" Ty Lee cried from behind a sizable, possible formerly earth-bent rock. Mai sighed and closed her book with a clap before walking back out of the carriage and over to where the gymnast was laying out on the ground. There was a tortoise-hare slowly trying to escape from her, its long ears folded back over its hard shell as it slowly hopped away. Ty Lee was rocking her legs back and forth as she watched it. "Doesn't he just remind you of Zuko?"

Mai looked down at the tortoise-hare and walked around in front of it. It did have that determined yet vaguely angry look on its face that seemed to have settled on Zuko's so long ago. "Y-yeah… He kind of does resemble Zuko doesn't he, especially around the eyes." The tortoise-hare glared up at the girl angrily. Then Azula walked over and it hid inside its shell in utter terror. "Huh… smart little guy." Mai said off handily.

"What's this about ol' Zuzu?" Azula asked as she walked over. Ty Lee was currently busying herself trying to coax the tortoise-hare out with utterly untrue statements about the princess.

"Oh Azula don't you think this tortoise-hare reminds you of Zuko?" Ty Lee chimed grabbing the shell of frightened creature and holding it up to the princess, trying to show her the creature's face and Zuko-like scowl. It slowly extended its head out a little, then looked her in the eyes and ducked back inside its shell.

Azula raised an eyebrow at the creature. "Hmm, yes well it's certainly as smart as Zuzu." Ty Lee smiled back at the princess, totally taking this as a complement of the creature's intelligence. In her mind, though she'd never admit it, the true test of intelligence was whether or not the creature in question was afraid of Azula. Clearly since this tortoise-hare was afraid of Azula it was intelligent.

Tatsuya walked over with his halberd rested on his shoulder and a cheery smile on his face. Azula crossed her arms and looked over at him vaguely curious why he was walking over. He started to say something but then noticed the tortoise-hare. "Hey is that a tortoise-hare?" He reached out and took the top of the creature's shell in his hand taking it from Ty Lee.

The gymnast girl smiled and nodded. "Yep, ain't it a cute little guy?" She smiled and tucked her hands behind her leaned toward the captain a little.

"Yep, these guys are real cute. Make great stew too." He said with a smile still on his face as he held the shell up to his eye and tried to peer inside as he held it upside down.

Ty Lee gasped and snatched the tortoise-hare back from him, cradling it to her chest. "What?! No you can't eat Zuko!" She said out raged, the tortoise-hare crept out from its shell and then nodded in agreement.

Tatsuya looked very confused and Mai sighed holding her face in her hand a little. Azula just couldn't help herself, it was such a priceless situation, and made all the more amusing by the fact that Ty Lee had actually just stated that they couldn't her brother. Azula laughed, just once, and then she caught herself and put a perfectly manicured hand in front of her mouth swallowing the remaining laughter. "Em… you came to tell us something Tatsuya?" She put her hand down and looked over at the captain.

He blinked trying to remember why he'd walked over and then it came back to him. "Oh yes, lunch is almost ready. I've set out a blanket in the shadow of the carriage, and laid out some rice cakes as an appetizer. I'm preparing a lovely stewed broth, it's not as nice as something I could've made back on the ship, but I'm confident that you'll all be pleased by it." The captain smiled at three ladies.

Ty Lee smile back. "Oh I'm sure whatever you make will be yummy Tatsuya." She set the lightly traumatized tortoise-hare down and it quickly ran away, well not exactly quickly, but it tried its hardest to get out of there as fast as it could. Mai just sighed and started walking back toward the carriage; she just didn't get Ty Lee sometimes.

Azula kept her arms crossed and followed the goth. "Well come on Ty Lee." Ty Lee blinked before smiling at the captain one more time before scurrying after her friends.

Tatsuya was left scratching his head. He followed a little behind the girls as they returned to the carriage. He had set up a nice little picnic spot behind it and there was a tray of six or eight rice cakes sitting in the middle of the Fire Nation blanket he'd gotten out earlier. The girls all walked over to it and sat down on the blanket. He returned to his bubbling pop of stew which he had set up on the far side of the carriage. It was a simple set up three poles propped against each other held the pot over a, maybe a little recklessly built fire pit. Though it wasn't like he was going to use it for long and he was a fire bender, a simple cooking fire wasn't going to get away from him.

Azula sat leaning back a little with her legs under her as she munched absent mindedly as she thought. They were already a day behind the Avatar, and the swamp wasn't exactly an easy place to search, not to mention the Fire Nation had almost no means of conveyance that could function easily in that kind of terrain. The Komodo Rhino wouldn't even be able to walk in the muck, they're too heavy and too big, and they'd just sink into the gunk and get stuck. The carriage wouldn't be much better; it'd probably get stuck in something, not to mention without the Rhino they'd have nothing to tow it. Still maybe she was giving the swamp too much credit, after all the Rhinos had served the Fire Nation well in every other kind of terrain. Might as well give the beast a shot as swamp.

Azula blinked a few times and leaned forward grabbing another rice cake. Ty Lee was trying to ask her something. "Oh? I'm sorry what was that?"

Ty Lee pouted at her friend. "Geez Azula, the least you could do is listen when I'm talking to you. I asked you if you'd thought any more about Tatsuya's feelings for you!" She leaned forward onto her arms a little, kicking her feet back and forth behind her.

Azula rolled her eyes and sighed. "Uh, please Ty Lee, don't tell me you're still claiming that the captain has feeling for me?" She took a small bite out of the top of her rice cake. The only problem with just letting Ty Lee thing that the captain might have feelings for her was that Azula couldn't actually think of any definitive proof otherwise, and that fact kind of concerned her.

Thankfully for Azula that conversation ended there, because Tatsuya chose that moment to walk over carrying lunch. Well more than just lunch, he had the stew pot slung over his halberd and a tea pot dangling from the other end as he balanced it over his shoulder. In his arms he had a stack of four bowls and four tea cups. If he hadn't of been wearing armor you might have thought he was a juggler or circus performer. Ty Lee held in a delighted squeak. "Alright ladies, sorry to keep you waiting." He said as he gently set the stew pot on the iron placemat for it in the center of the blanket. Then he tilted his halberd back a little and let the tea pot slide down it into his hand, he stabbed the blade of the weapon into the ground beside the picnic blanket and unhooked the tea pot. "Tea anyone?" He said with a smirk, pouring himself a cup as he sat down, just off the blanket on a bit of a rock really.

"Oh I'd love some Tatsuya!" Ty Lee said bouncing up to her knees as she leaned over and took at cup and bowl from him. She helped hand out the other bowl and cups handing one of each to Mai while Tatsuya set the remaining out in front of Azula. The princess just leaned back a little, slouching in a way that only royalty knew how to do just right, so that she was still proper but comfortable.

It was then that the wind picked up a little and the foulest most unpleasant odor the fire princess had ever had the misfortune to inhale. She raised a hand to over her mouth just to stop herself from physically reacting. It stank of rot and decay. "Ugh… Tatsuya I certainly hope that foul odor isn't coming from something you expect us to ingest." She said, still holding her hand over her mouth.

The captain blinked a little then sniffed the air. The other girls smelled it now too. Mai put a hand over her mouth and tried not to turn green. Ty Lee did turn a little green. "Oh, it's just rotting plant matter. The wind must have shifted and is now coming off of the swamp where the Avatar was sighed." He stood up. "Might I suggest you ladies continue your meal in the carriage?" He pulled up his halberd and hooked the stew pot with it again.

Azula stood up and the other two followed. "A wonderful idea captain, after all we certainly can't be expected to eat with that horrific smell in the air." The princess continued to hold a hand over her mouth and nose as she walked into the metal carriage, it didn't actually have windows so the stench was only slightly muffled, but tolerable. Azula sat back down in her chair as the captain Mai and Ty Lee filed in. Tatsuya gently set the pot in the middle of the small metal room then bowing his head slightly scurried back outside to gather up the rest of the picnic.

He made a few trips back and forth before he knelt down beside the stew pot and removed the lid. The scent of spices and meats quickly filled the small metal room and over powered the distant stench of decay. It really did smell good, and Azula was hungry. The captain filled himself a bowl and topped off his tea cup before bowing out and leaving the carriage. "Enjoy your meal ladies."Ty Lee hopped up and ran over to the window as he walked by. "Tatsuya, why don't you join us?" She said leaning through the empty window frame a little.

"Oh, no that's quite find Lady Ty Lee, someone has to keep an eye open in case travelers get suspicions of our carriage. It doesn't bear a Fire Crest, but it's still pretty decidedly Fire Nation, and if any earth kingdom patrols wander by it'd be best if we see them before they see us." The captain said with a smile as he sipped at his tea lightly. "Besides I'm perfectly fine on Rhino back."

"Aw ok… it's just that you've been with us for almost two days now and we still don't know anything about you. Like, do you have a girlfriend?" Ty Lee battled her eyes and giggled a little just at the fact she'd actually just asked that.

Tatsuya chuckled a little. "No, I'm afraid I do not Lady Ty Lee. Enjoy your meal." He walked over to his mount. He balanced his bowl on his tea cup and removed his halberd from his back, laying back on the rear of the saddle before he jumped on, without spilling anything, and proceeding to dig into his meticulously prepared stew.

Ty Lee avoided Azula's death glare as she poured herself a bowl of the captain's stew and quickly scurried back over to her pile of bean filled bag chairs. She sat there quietly trying not to meet eyes with the fire princess. Mai rolled her eyes and poured herself a bowl of the stew before returning to her book filled corner.

When Azula finished glaring at Ty Lee she filled her own bowl and began to eat. It was a little surprising at first, the stew was almost, sweet, but had other flavors mixed in in such a way that not one of them stayed forward long enough for it to be identified. Normally the princess would have found such a mix to be distasteful but no matter what flavor came forward it only ever seemed to compliment the last.

The fire princess and her friends ate in silence. Azula slowly munched on bits of her stew, komodo chicken strips and what appeared to be slices of sugar cane. She slowly rolled the food around her mouth. There was something about the captain that bothered her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She wondered if it wasn't that maybe Ty Lee was right, but she just refused to admit that, at least for now. Perhaps it was the fact that he was only half Fire Nation, maybe it was his Earth Kingdom blood that made her find him unsettling.

Azula rolled this concept around in her mind for a little while, about half of her stew was gone by the time she dropped it. It was just that she'd never really considered herself a racist, after all she hated Zuko and he was her brother. The princess shook her head; she needed something to take her mind off all this.

She looked out at the captain; he was sitting awkwardly on the Komodo Rhino's saddle. If they'd been moving he probably wouldn't have been able to balance as he was, one foot over the side hooked in the saddle's strap and the other foot up resting on his knee. His bowl was set in his lap and he was balancing his tea cup on his foot. The odd thing was that he looked perfectly comfortable sitting as such. He certainly was a strange man, but then again he would have had to be to join her team.

Then again it wasn't like he had much choice was it. After all he'd been shipped to her by his superiors and she'd had hired him totally of her own will, well maybe a little influence from Mai and Ty Lee, but not much. Azula couldn't help but wonder if the young captain wouldn't rather be assigned someplace else. Of course she knew people didn't like to serve under her, in fact she made a point to make it as predominantly unpleasant a task as she could. She wasn't really sure why, but it wasn't like she had anything against her servants. It was just that it was rather fun to see them scurry about in fear of her. Particularly those servants who were older then her, they just had a certain air about them that made it so enjoyable to watch them squirm under her well perfected death gaze.

The captain, however, seemed different. It was almost liked he actually enjoyed serving under her. Of course if she were to pick anyone to serve under she wouldn't have thought of herself as a terribly bad choice. After all, all she asked was that he cater to her ever whim, which was technically his job. In return he got not only the status boost of having served directly under the most powerful woman in the world, but he also got relative freedom, as long as his jobs were done. He got to have lunch with them, of course he had to cook it but he was the chief, he got to be involved in their decision making up to a point. Plus he'd already sat at the head of a war meeting for her, not many ship captains could say they'd sat at the head of a table with some of the most noted and decorated men in the Fire Nation.

Azula shook her head a little and looked down at her now completely empty bowl. She sighed a little and leaned on one arm. While it had been amusing to contemplate the captain's place in the world it had brought her right back to her original question. Was Ty Lee right about him?

The gymnast girl did have, admit ably more experience with the male gender than did the princess. Of course there were reasons for that, but both girls tried to ignore those. The fact remained that her comments dogged Azula's thoughts, and if there was one thing the princess just could not abide it was having an unsettled mind.

Azula took a deep breath and got out of her chair. The princess set her bowl and tea cup down next to the stew pot and strolled around it to the window that looked out at the captain. "Captain, I have a question for you." She said like it was of no real importance, and since the carriage wasn't moving she was certain he'd hear her.

Tatsuya gulped down a mouthful of food and then whipping his mouth, on his sleeve his poor manners made Azula's brow twitch a little, he turned to her. "Ask me anything princess. I'll do my best to give you an answer."

The budding conversation the drew interesting of the ever curious Ty Lee and the fact that Azula was going to ask the captain something interested the ever board Mai. Azula smirked a little. "Tatsuya…" The princess paused, examine her nails off handedly. Then she took a deep breath. "Where did you acquire that unusual halberd?" Ok, so she chocked at the last minute. It wasn't her fault. Asking a guy if he liked you wasn't at all similar to asking a man if he wanted to die. You knew the answer then. Besides, romance was more Ty Lee's thing, and Azula had wanted to know where he'd gotten that halberd. "After all that's clearly not standard Fire Nation equipment, is it? I don't believe I've ever seen another one like it but I've never really paid too much attention to our weapons. After all I've always had my bending, and there's not a warrior in the world that can defeat me in a bending competition." The princess didn't know why, and she hated herself for it, but for some reason she became just a little bit nervous. Azula didn't deal with being nervous very well, she started to rant a little, and even though she knew she was ranting and sounded like a blabbering idiot she couldn't stop herself.

Tatsuya chuckled a little and Azula wanted to dive in a hole, or burn him to a crisp but the later meant she'd need to find a new cook, and he would be very hard to replace. "No, you're right princess. It's not a standard Fire Nation halberd." He removed the halberd from the saddle and held it out in front of him, setting it across his lap so the head pointed toward her. "I got it from my home town, just after I became captain. The smiths there aren't the best in the world, like in the homeland, but they're fairly good, and I lent them a hand with my bending for this particular blade." He stroked the blade slowly, sliding his fingers across it being careful not to cut himself. "It's my prized possession. I had top blade crafted to resemble the center of the Fire Military crest. The rear blade was supposed to resemble the edges of the crest, but it ended up looking more like a scorpion-badger's sting, and the whole thing is a little top heavy due to the larger than average head." He smirked a little and spun it around once; his hand was higher up on it than it would have needed to be if the blade was balanced at its center. The captain smiled at his weapon locking it back onto the Rhino's saddle before smiling back at the princess.

Azula, who felt a little better since he hadn't mentioned, or seemed to notice her little faux pas, "Mhm… very interesting captain, I look forward to seeing you cleave the enemy with it." She turned around and shot the giggling Ty Lee a glare that could kill, had Ty Lee not built up immunity to it over the years. Mai didn't look at the princess and just went back to reading.

"Well, that's enough of that." Azula said sitting back down in her chair. "Captain, get lunch cleaned up and then let's head out, we're closing in on the Avatar and we can't afford to let him escape." She said looking out the window at the captain. He nodded and hopped off the Rhino walking around to the carriage hopping in quietly keeping his head bowed as he gathered up the dishes from the girls. Azula sat in her chair hands interlocked in front of her as she tried to figure out what had just happened to her.

Ty Lee yawned a little and rolled over onto her back looking at Tatsuya upside-down as he took her bowl and cup from in front of her. "Say Tatsuya, how long do you think it'll be before we reach this swamp place?" She yawned again and stretched a little. "Because I'm getting kinda tired, do we have enough time for me to take a quick nap?""We're a few hours away still, but we should make good time once we get moving." The captain responded, his arms full of precariously balanced dishes. "But I'll have to clean these dishes before we can get moving so… yeah I suppose we've got plenty of time for you to take a nap lady Ty Lee." He smirked at her and walked out of the carriage arranging the dishes in a line in front of him before hitting each one in turn with a sizable fire blast. Azula smirked as Ty Lee yawned again and buried herself into a bed of pillows. Azula wasn't smirking at the gymnast; she was smirking because she thought bathing the dishes in fire was a clever way of cleaning them off, particularly because Fire Nation pottery was all either metal or porcelain. Then the princess yawned herself. "Hmm… I think I'll take a quick nap myself, Tatsuya, be a dear and wake me up before we enter the swamp will you?" She leaned forward a little and looked at the captain thought the open carriage door; he was trying to extinguish the remainders of lunch.

He turned around as he tried to stamp out what had once been the stew he'd meticulously prepared. "Oh, of course princess, I'll alert you the moment we reach the swamp's boarders." He smiled a little and as soon as he put back what he'd gotten from the carriage's roof, which gave the girls inside the carriage an interesting show, the team was off, toward the massively sprawling and somewhat eerie swamp.


	6. The Swamp

Azula gently and slowly opened her eyes as the carriage rocked to a halt. She glanced around without revealing that she was awake. Ty Lee was still sleeping; she'd rolled around and was now thoroughly entangled in her mass of pillows. Azula glanced out the window that looked straight ahead; the captain was dismounting the Rhino, taking his halberd with him as he walked around toward the carriage door, passing out of sight for a second. The princess glanced out the window to her left. There just outside was a massive tree and the wind carried the distinct stench of swap gasses. The odor made Azula wonder how Ty Lee could remain asleep, it smelled like, well like miles and miles of slowly decaying plant matter and stagnant water.

The captain walked around the carriage and gently rapped on the door before opening it slightly. "Ladies Mai, Ty Lee, Princess Azula… We've arrived at the swamp's boarders." He bowed his head a little and let the door swing open a little more. "I await your orders."

Ty Lee covered her mouth and giggled a little before flipping over and pushing herself up onto her feet. She stretched her limbs in ways that would probably break most peoples' bones. Mai yawned deeply fanning her mouth lightly and closed her book. "I wondered what that horrid stench was."

Azula sat up, acting a little like she'd just woken up. She yawned and fanned her mouth a little. "Well, I suppose we should go in then…" She yawned a little more and stood up. She crossed her arms behind her back and walked past her friends and the captain hoping out of the carriage. The ground even this close to the swamp squished under her feet and she left boot prints pressed into the muck. "Captain?" The princess said with her standard air of authority that stated an order was to follow.

The captain's head shot up and he stood half turning to address the princess without turning his back on the others girls present. He crossed his arms behind his back and stood at attention. "Yes princess?"

"You've had field experience with Komodo-Rhinos before correct?" Azula didn't really pose this as a question, but more of an order that demanded a response. The tone she gave to her command would have made most of the princess's subordinates squirm in their shoes, for some reason the princess was in a particularly foul mood at the moment, not that it showed.

The captain smirked closing his eyes and tossing his head back while still remaining at attention. "Well, yes I have princess, though I've never been part of a mounted unit exactly." He opened his eyes and shrugged a little, turning toward Azula a little more. "I was once under orders to transport several dozen Komodo-Rhinos in preparation for the late Admiral Zhao's assault on the North Pole."

Azula smirked back, the captain tried to stay at attention like a good soldier, but his tone betrayed him. It was clear to her that he hadn't liked his ship being used as a simple transport vessel. Not that she could blame him, but that was irrelevant at the moment. "So you have intimate knowledge of their maneuverability?" She really just wanted to know if the beast drawing her carriage would be too heavy to enter the swamp without sinking into the muck. She'd rather not get swamp muck on her favorite chair. Who even knew what swamp muck really was.

"Well I wouldn't say intimate, but I know there's no way you're getting one into that swamp without it sinking into the muck never to be seen again." Tatsuya smirked at Azula; she glared at him a little annoyed he figured out what she was really asking so easily, well that was really just an excuse to glare at him, she was really glaring at him just to glare at him.

"Well then I guess you'll just have to carry our supply then Tatsuya, a few days worth at least." Azula said as if it were the obvious conclusion, which it was, after all it was kinda why they'd brought him, that and cooking and cleaning and such. Cooking, cleaning, and carrying things were pretty much the only reasons they'd brought him along.

The Captain smirked and bowed to the fire princess. "Of course princess." He acted like this wasn't and unusual order for him to be given and walked over to the carriage. Climbing the side, he starting getting some supplies down.

"Azula!" Ty Lee exclaimed as she watched the captain throw supplies off the carriage roof. "You can't make Tatsuya carry all those things… It's mean." She sort of mumbled that last part as she was standing next to Azula and didn't want her braid set on fire, again.

Mai walked up on the other side of the princess and sighed. "Why not, I mean it is kinda the reason we brought him along right?" She met eyes with Ty Lee and shrugged.

"W-well…" Ty Lee tried to think of a response, but it was hard when Mai used things like 'the truth' and 'logic.'

"It's quite alright Lady Ty Lee." The captain smiled down from sitting perched on top of the supplies on top of the carriage, he actually looked quite comfortable. He'd dug himself out a nice little seat so he could look over the supplies he hadn't thrown down into a pile. "After all realistically, I'm the best person to carry out supplies. I mean we'll need supplies, and someone has to carry them. Besides Princess Azula Lady Mai and yourself all rely on your agility in combat, if we were ambushed you three would be at a disadvantage to be carrying anything."

Azula nodded, he'd made some good points. She'd never really thought on the subject beyond that that was why they had him, but he was right he was the best choice to carry things. Azula took some comfort in the knowledge that he didn't just blindly follow orders as well; he was loyal to a fault, but thought about his orders, she was starting to like him. Not that she'd let Ty Lee ever know that. She paused to contemplate that that might be the reason why she was in a foul mood, but she shrugged and ignored it. "Exactly, and besides we're noble women Ty Lee, I know you've been living with the circus but it's beneath a noble woman of the Fire Nation to resort to such things as manual labor."

Ty Lee pouted for a second, but then shrugged and smiled again. "Well as long as Tatsu's ok with it I guess its fine." The gymnast girl paused for a second. "So Azula how are we going to find the Avatar in this big swampy place?" She bounced on to a new subject with the same ease and grace that she bounced in any regard.

"Hmm…" Azula turned around and looked at the massive swamp that stretched out before her. The Avatar was in there somewhere, but it would take months, if not years to comb the entire swamp for one boy, even with an entire legion of Fire Nation soldiers. "That's a very good question Ty Lee… I suppose we'll have to work something out." The princess turned around to look at her team. Ty Lee was smiling and watching as a bumble-fly circle her, Mai was leafing through the book she'd been reading all day, and Tatsuya was reorganizing the supplies he'd picked out so that he could strap them to his back. "Alright ladies, ideas?" "Oh I know how about we like… oh… hmm…" Ty Lee had good intentions, but she did tend to talk before she thought. "Oh we could like throw a big party and he'll see it from his sky buffalo thing and come down to join us and then we can nab him."

Mai rolled her eyes at the gymnast. "Yeah, we'll just put a big sign that says 'big swamp party here' and I'll bet the Avatar will just come running." She sighed and closed her book. "We'd have a better chance just lighting the swamp on fire, the Avatar would probably come running to 'save the trees' or something like that."

Azula thought on this, fire, destruction, and control of the playing field. "You know Mai, that's actually a pretty good idea."

Mai smirked a little. "Well I was serious." She said that like it was obvious, which it might have been, had she not used the same monotone with which she always spoke.

Ty Lee stared at the goth girl a little. Azula coughed into her hand. "Yes, well… Captain?" The princess turned to address Tatsuya who was current arranging the supplies he'd picked out into a stack and tying them together. "When might we be prepared to leave?"

The captain was kneeling down to heft up his makeshift cargo pack onto his back. His halberd now strapped horizontally to this waist so he could still reach it with the backpack on. "Well I just need to send a hawk to the nearest Fire Nation base so someone will come and retrieve the carriage, but I should be able to do that from in the swamp, depends on if the hawk can fly out of trees." He scratched his chin a little and walked over to the ladies.

Ty Lee leaned over and looked his supply pack up and down. It was set up in layers, one sleeping bag, then two more, then a wooden crate, and finally a wider but thinner metal crate. "Tatsu I think you forgot a sleeping bag." The gymnast said confused, she righted herself and quickly counted the members of their group just to be sure.

The captain chuckled. "I didn't forget lady Ty Lee, It's just that I've never been able to get comfortable laying down to sleep. I sleep much better standing or sitting up. I think it's a relic from my days on guard duty to tell the truth." He chuckled a little more.

Azula raised an eyebrow at him. "Your sleeping habits are a relic from your days on guard duty?" She gave him a low grade evil eye. "I certainly hope you don't intend to rekindle those habits should I assign you to guard duty captain."

The captain paled a little and bowed his head. "I promise you princess, I shall do my best at to complete every task you assign to me." He rose and scratched the back of his head. "Heh, in retrospect I probably shouldn't have told you that huh princess?"

"No you shouldn't have." Azula smirked crossing her arms and turning back toward the swamp. "But it is nice to know you're incapable of lying to me. Now let's get moving." And with that the princess lead her team into the dark expanses of the dank swamp. Mai and Ty Lee followed close in toe, Mai went back to reading her book while Ty Lee started admiring the various swamp plants. The captain hummed a bit of a tune and walked a ways behind the three.

The four walked for a good three hours before Ty Lee broke the silence. "So… anyone know where we're going, exactly?" This caused their merry little band to stop in place, because it caused Azula to stop and think and that caused the other three to stop.

"Hmm… well." Azula turned to address her team, arms crossed across her chest. "If we're going to lure the Avatar out by setting this swamp on fire we should look for a wide open area to engage him in." She looked around, where they were now the trees were too close, if she started lighting things on fire here and ended up in combat things could get difficult. "So Ty Lee think you could pop up a tree and find us a clearing?" Azula smirked a little over at the gymnast who smiled back and was up a tree and out of sight in half a second.

Another half a second she reappeared hanging upside down from a vine, she lowered herself down next to the princess. "It looks like there's a clearing about half the size of the royal barge's deck not too far in that direction Azula."

Azula nodded and Ty Lee flipped down from the vine. The royal barge was huge, even a clearing half the size of its deck should be more than enough space to fight in. At least as long as she was careful not to get her back pressed to something that was on fire. "That should be fine, ladies let's move out… You too captain." She hadn't actually forgotten about him, she just wanted him to think she had. The four kept their formation as they walked.

After the path they followed, which much to Mai's discomfort had them knee deep in swamp muck, widened Azula began to light the tree top on fire with short quick shots to the top of their trunks, right where the branches first started to grow out. By the time they reached the clearing Tai Lee had seen there was a raging forest fire going on behind them. Azula spun on one heel, and looked back at her team and the raging fire behind them. "Well I think that'll get their attention." It was about a minute after that that a large mass of vines wearing what appeared to be a mask made out of bark thundered down the path that the Fire Nation children had come down. The resulting waves of swamp water splashed over the burning trees and extinguished them. The creature loomed over the four youths and Tatsuya spoke. "That's not the Avatar…"

* * *

Author's Note- I wanted chapter two to be titled The Swamp, to try and keep in line with Avatar Book Two Chapters... Tsk yeah right, that would have been one seriously long chapter. 


	7. A Captain Lost

"Your grasp of the obvious amazes me, Captain…" Mai said as she side stepped into a battle stance and adjusted her hidden stilettos.

"Ideas girls?" Azula asked as she dropped into a fighting stance.

"Maybe it's a friendly… swamp spirit, monster, plant, thing?" Ty Lee started out hopeful but the more she spoke the less she seemed to believe herself.

Mai rolled her eyes and started side stepping away from the group; it wasn't that she was trying to distance herself from the others so much as she was trying to get a better angle on the angry looking swamp thing. "Ever the optimist eh Ty Lee?" The Goth scoffed a little.

Azula sighed, this was going to be troublesome, she'd never had to fight a monster before, of course if this was a monster, or maybe a spirit, and she killed it. The princess smirked a little at the thought of presenting the creature's mask to her father. "I was actually thinking more along the lines of ways to kill it."

"I say we hack it apart till it stops moving." The captain said with only a trace of sarcasm while pointing his halberd at the beast, creature, thing.

Azula rolled her eyes. "While I marvel at the enlighten insight that suggestions bares." Her speech on the other hand oozed with sarcasm. "I'm afraid I'll have to agree with it, aside from the hacking part of course."

"Of course." Echoed her team, no one had really expected Princess Azula to hack anything, that would be the Captain's job.

The battle was short, as are most in all actuality, long battles only serve to draw out the suffering on both sides, Azula actually preferred them. The princess started in first, firing a thin blue stream at the beasts' bark face. It missed, the creature moving to the side the strike merely grazing its shoulder, though the flames were hot enough to ignite the vines. These new born flames were quickly doused by the creature, raising one arm and splashing swamp water over its back reducing the orange flames to hissing stem from a blade like wound.

Next struck the Captain, he charged at the creature halberd bared at his side. While the beast was busy dousing its shoulder he swept several long broad strikes along its base. Vines snapped and the front half of the creature slipped slack. The beast pulled fresh vegetation from the surface of the swamp. The fresh vines threatened to swallow the Captain up and imprison him within the base of the swamp thing but a wide low sweeping blow from the soldier's blade cut out an escape.

Ty Lee took the trees almost the moment Azula struck, she jumped flipped and cart wheeled through the branches with easy greater than that of most creatures that lived in them. Mai nearly mirrored her actions only she moved with no flipping or cart wheels. The two closed in from above one on either side of the swamp beast as it replenished itself from the captain's strike. Mai tossed her arm and out flew a half dozen small knives the goth girl followed up with a kick and sent another six small arrows out to make it an even dozen. The blades passed into the beast's outer layer but it was doubtful it even felt them due to their relative size. The arrows plunged deeper but still no reaction was yielded from the beast.

The creature finally found a chance to retaliate, tossing its arms up into the tree tops and unleashing a wave of lashing vines upon both girls. Ty Lee jumped and dodged flipping up and down the tree trunks to dodge the lashing vegetation. Mai took a less active approach as she just amputated anything that came within a foot of her, kicking and waving her arms as all manner of small pointy weaponry imbedded itself in the branches and tree trunks around her.

The two benders on the ground however did not let this onslaught last long however. Azula swung her arms up from her sides commanding a long length of blue fire to rise up and sever the creature's left arm, and at the same time the Captain raked his blade head across the knee deep swamp water, steam rose off it and when he swung down over his head a long cloud of orange flames followed the blade and set the creature's above arm aflame.

The beast pulled back, raising a large wave of swamp water to splash across its front and douse its vines and any flaming debris that might have fallen from the burning trees above. The girls, and Tatsuya, regrouped. Azula stood where she was; Ty Lee bounced down on the right, Mai and landed with a splash on the left. Tatsuya huffed over behind the princess, he was still carrying the supplies and fighting with them on his back was a bit of a work out.

"Well, I feel useless…" Mai said ringing out her sleeve the creature's dousing of its arms had inadvertently giving the girl a good soaking.

Ty Lee sheepishly raised a hand while playing with her braid in the other. "Yeah… uh, Azula, I'm not sure I know how to fight giant swamp things…"

Azula looked over at the Captain. He laid his halberd on his shoulder and smirked. "I'm good." He spun the pole arm around next to him letting it just skim the water's surface and then crossed it over his chest, readying himself for a second strike.

"Right…" Azula said less than amused. "Mai Ty Lee, retreat to a safe distance, this is a battle for benders. We'll come and get you once it's dead." She smirked a little and her cohorts nodded braking out into a run away from the creature. Azula looked back at the Captain. "How long can you keep it occupied?" A deadly glint behind her eyes revealed her intentions, lightning.

"About a minute, maybe two…" Tatsuya replied adjusting the supplies on his back and his grip on his halberd.

Azula smiled. "It's enough." She smirked, and started channeling, waving her fingers in a smooth arch out in front of her crackling lightning following behind them.

The Captain broke out in a dead charge at the looming swamp beast, his feet tossed mug behind him and left deep impressions. He was about to swing at the beast when he suddenly paused and spun, turning around and breaking out strait for Azula.

What happened next occurred too quickly for the princess to grasp it until it had already passed. The creature loomed over above the two benders, its base narrowed and its shoulders spread out, but more importantly, and something that Azula did not realize until afterward, was that the water receded back behind it. That was why the Captain's boots slung mud whereas before they had just splashed. Tatsuya had realized this; just as Azula was preparing to strike when he grabbed the back of her collar and tossed her in the air. She flipped and landed on the trunk of a tree, digging her armored wristbands into it like climbing spikes to hold herself there. She was going to kill the Captain until she saw why he'd thrown her.

The swamp creature came crashing down, its face just where the Captain was standing, where Azula had been standing not a second ago. The Captain had had to stop to toss Azula out of harm's way, and with the creature's viney body came crashing down a tidal wave of swamp water. Tatsuya turned just in time to see the buck of the creature hit, and the wave come crashing over him.

Azula blinked and where she'd been standing but a moment ago was a raging torrent of twisted vines and roaring waters. She scanned the surface for her subordinate. A moment later she spied him, he'd been washed a good fifteen meters from where he'd been, and now had his halberd stabbed into the trunk of a tree, the supplies had been torn from his back along with his shoulder guards. He yelled something to her but over the raging waters and distance Azula couldn't make out a word.

And then she blinked again, and where he had been was only his halberd, vines tangled about it and white waters attempting to pull it from its post. But the torrent could not, and did not last. As quickly as it had started the waters calmed, receding back to their knee height depth. Most of the vines from the creature had been washed away and those that remained just floated bobbing up and down lightly on the surface.

Azula took a breath, she hadn't realized it but she'd been holding it after the Captain had thrown her. She flipped herself down, landing with a splash at the base of the tree she'd clung to. She wondered vaguely why she'd held her breath, it wasn't like she'd cared much if the Captain survived, and after all he was just her subordinate, right?

The princess strode over to where the halberd rested in the base of a tree. It was easily planted three feet above the water level, yet when she'd seen it with the Captain it had been at water level perhaps below. There must have been an incredible amount of water in the torrent to raise the water level three feet. She placed her hand on the weapon's staff, bushing some swamp filth and vines from it as she tugged on it. It didn't move, Azula glared at it a little and tugged on it harder. Again it didn't move, she eventually wiggled the weapon back and forth in its niche before it pulled free. Nearly half the blade had been stabbed into the tree.

Azula spun the blade around once before resting it over her shoulder. She looked around. "Captain?" She yelled not really expecting a response, he was nowhere in sight after all. A screamer bird cried out in response and for some reason the princess's heart jumped to her throat. She growled at herself and chocked the retched thing back down. "Hmph, fool… He could have survived if he hadn't tried to save me." She spat out at nothing in particular. It was true had just run past the princess he might have had enough of a head start to avoid being swallowed so completely by the wave.

The princess looked around once more before walking off, halberd over her shoulder, in search of Ty Lee and Mai. They may have been tossed about by the tidal wave but they were agile, more agile than the Captain that much was for certain, and should have been able to avoid being displaced too greatly by the wave.

It took her some time, but eventually the princess found the other girls atop a particularly large sandbar establishing a makeshift camp under the arch of a tree. Mai's make up was running and she was attempting to ring her clothes out while Ty Lee failed a making a fire by rubbing two sticks together above a pile of twigs. Azula announced herself by firing a small stream of blue flames just far enough to strike the pile of kindling the gymnast was trying to ignite. The two girls looked over at the princess, and both smirked. "About time…" Mai said, even while smirking she was sullen.

Ty Lee bounced over and hugged Azula. "Azula! I guess this means you won." She giggled happily before noticing that the princess was carrying Tatsuya's halberd, and the Captain was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Tatsu?" She asked blinking.

"Let's just dry off Ty Lee…" Azula said walking up the side of the root to where the fire was just starting to get really going. She stabbed the halberd into the trunk of the tree beside her so it hung out over the crackling flame. Mai looked down and shook her head, whipping her dripping makeup off with her sleeve.

Ty Lee just stood there knee deep in cold swamp water as the sun slowly sank behind the swamp tree tops. "But… Tatsu…"

It was dark before the three spoke again. Mai was shivering, she'd never gotten very dry, Ty Lee seemed like someone had decaffeinated her, and Azula hadn't hurt anything. And just because the weather felt like it, shortly after dark it started to rain. Just a slight trickle at first, but it slowly grew into a mild rain storm.

"I'm hungry…" Mai said sounding a little like she'd just realized it herself. Neither of the other two girls responded immediately.

"Tatsu could cook something if he were here…" Ty Lee frowned a little and folded her knees up to her chest as she stared into their fire.

Azula surveyed her friends. Why were they so upset, it wasn't like Tatsuya had been anyone, he was just another nameless soldier, his lot in life was to live and die for the Fire Nation, and he'd died so that she, the princess, the heir to the Fire Nation's throne, could live. It was a more than fair trade, he would be known as a hero, if anyone ever learned of his death. "Well he's not." She said with a little more anger than she'd meant to give it. She stood up, she was the only one entirely dry out of the tree, Ty Lee was getting rained on ever though she was huddled under what there was of the tree they were camped under, and Mai's robes had never really gotten dry after the fight. Azula had just bent her armor dry, and even as rain fell it just sizzled away the moment it touched her.

"Come on, it's not like this is the first time we've had to fend for ourselves." She put her hands on her hips and glared at her lethargic comrades. "Ty Lee you know how to cook." Azula pointed to the braid sporting girl trying to remind her that they hadn't always had Tatsuya.

"Well… yeah… I mean, my mother tried to teach all of us how to cook when we were little… but that was a long time ago Azula." The gymnast coiled from behind her knees to look up at the fire princess.

"And Mai's pretty talented with a knife."

"Sure I guess…" The goth shrugged. "But I don't much like the idea of getting wrist deep in some animal's innards."

"The three of us should easily be able to find something edible in this giant muck hole." Azula glared at her company and marched out into the swamp to go hunt for something weaker than her. Which with the exception of Dragons, probably included the entire animal kingdom. Mai and Ty Lee quickly exchanged glances, and got up to follow their princess.

A few hours later the three returned empty handed. It wasn't that they hadn't seen anything that they could eat. It was just that they hadn't seen anything that looked particularly appetizing, nor did any of the three know how to prepare a Cat-Gator.

They just hmphed back to their dying camp fire, Ty lee threw some twigs on and Azula blasted it again. It crackled and roared back to life. Azula walked around and sat on the far side, her legs tucked under her. Ty Lee plopped down under the tree and pulled her legs up to her chin again. Mai laid out so her head was kinda under the tree while he legs stuck out into the rain a bit more.

"I miss Tatsu…" Ty Lee said somberly.

"Yeah… he did make good food… and the things he knew about animal parts bordered on torture experience…" Mai sighed a little. "Plus he was probably the only guy nuts enough to flirt with Azula…"

It was at that point that Azula actually got interested in the conversation. She glared at her friends a little. "I told you two, he did not have feelings for me. I was his commander and princess, and that was all."

"Is that really all you thought of him Azula?..." Ty Lee seemed a little sad that her friend hadn't even considered that the young captain might have harbored feeling for her. In truth it wasn't that Azula was evil cruel and manipulative that drove boys away from her, they were certainly contributing factors but they weren't the main reasons. The main reason was that she was cold, ironic for a fire bender, but true. Azula was cold she didn't every even try to sympathize with others. Ty Lee didn't mind, it was just who Azula was, but it did often make her worry that Azula would end up alone and unhappy, and Ty Lee didn't like to think of any of her friends as being unhappy. She avoided thinking about Mai's future because of this.

"Of course it was Ty Lee, what else would I have thought of him?" Azula crossed her arms over her chest and tossed her head to the side. In all honesty she was kind of glad the Captain was gone, not that she was glad he was dead, but that she was glad that he wasn't around anymore. She hadn't harbored him any ill will, it was just that there was something about him that made her feel… off. When he was around she couldn't behave like herself, it wasn't his fault, well it might have been but the princess wasn't particularly keen on blaming others for her feelings, most of the time she just strived not to have them in the first place.

Mai smirked, and this small action drew the attention of her two friends, mostly because Mai never smirked. "You can say that Azula… but if he meant nothing to you, than why'd you bring back his 'prized position?'" She gestured to the halberd, still stabbed into the tree a bit above the fire.

Azula blinked. She hadn't really realized that she'd brought back the Captain's halberd; it was just kind of something that she had done. After all you don't just leave a piece of equipment rooted in the base of a tree. "Well, so it could be returned to his family of course. They deserve some memento of him."

Mai shook her head. "I read his file Azula, you did too, and we both know his family could care less about him. The only one who could possibly want to keep a memento of him is you Azula." Azula raised an eyebrow, she hadn't been paying that much attention to the Captain's file, not that it matter much now anyway. She also had to admit Mai was getting her curious about the Captain's home life.

Ty Lee on the other hand looked back and forth between Mai and Azula, she hadn't gotten to look at the Captain's file, and had no idea what Mai was talking about. She blinked at the goth. "Mai, why don't Tatsuya's parents care if he's dead?" She leaned forward like it was story time.

Mai sighed. "Tatsuya Shouhei was the child of a fire soldier and an earth peasant. His parents never married, and his father's post was moved before he was born. His father was stationed in his home town for about a week… I can hardly believe he met and fell in love with Tatsuya's mother in that short of time. It's more likely he forced himself on her, he was a soldier of an occupying force after all." Azula leaned back a little; she seemed to have recalled something about that, but to hear it put so bluntly by the monotone goth was… chilling. Ty Lee was on the edge of her seat, not because she was egger to hear more, but because she was interested in the story of the young, late, captain Shouhei.

"He enlisted when he was eight, it was noted that he enlisted under 'special circumstances' but it didn't say what those were, it was probably that his mother didn't exactly dote on him." It was clear what Mai was implying even to Ty Lee. "There he worked as a cabin boy for three years, never working under the same captain for longer than a few months. He was promoted and became a Fire Bender soldier, after an Agni Kai with his commanding officer. They didn't say who won, but I doubt he would have gotten promoted if he'd lost."

Azula smirked, "So he'd beaten his commanding officer into promoting him?" Perhaps that was the tension she'd sensed when she'd asked what he'd done to get assigned to her.

"Probably, after that he was bounced around Bender regiments like he had the plague, no one really wanted him. He was often put on the front lines even when the regiment he was actually assigned to wasn't. They were most likely hoping he'd get killed. Eventually he'd distinguished himself enough that they had an excuse to promote him to Captain, after that he was basically sent on one run around mission after another." Mai shrugged a little. "It didn't seem like the military like him much, at least from his record."

"Well you can't away trust the record… after all I'm sure our school transcripts have a few blank spots thanks to our parents. It may be that the people writing these thing down just didn't like him." Azula smirked a little as she stared into the fire, it sounded like the best place he'd been assigned was with her. At least she'd treated him like everyone else. The fact that she treated everyone like dirt had apparently been lost on him however.

"Huh…" Ty Lee curled her legs up to her chest again. "Funny… he survives all that, all those battles… and then dies in his first fight with us…"

"Not really…" Mai added in with her somber tone.

Azula blinked. "Well he might not be dead." She paused as her two friends stared at her like she'd just lit somebody important on fire, again. "What?"

"What do you mean Tatsu might not be dead! Azula, how could you just sit there and let us think he was dead if you don't know! He could be out there hurt and wounded and looking for us, or looking for his halberd! And we're just sitting here mopping about his past?!" Ty Lee stood strait up and grabbed a hold of the Halberd. "I'm going to go look for him." About twenty seconds after she wrapped her fingers around the Halberd's staff she let go and shook her hand out, it had been sticking out over their fire for a good four hours now, and was pretty hot. "Ow ow ow!"

"Ty Lee look around." Mai spoke the voice of reason once again. "It's dark, and it's raining, plus we're in a swamp even if we were to search for him it'd be more likely that we'd just get lost ourselves."

"Mai's right." Azula actually spoke, she was a little concerned about herself. She hadn't thought of looking for the Captain even once. She really shouldn't have just assumed the wave had killed him, after all if he didn't hit his head on anything, and kept from getting tangled in the creature's vines he could have easily survived, but she'd just assumed he'd died. Azula mental shook her head at herself, what had she been thinking. She felt like she needed to have a serious talk with herself, but now wasn't the time. "We can look for him in the morning, if he is alive out there then he's probably wounded and bunkered down somewhere to ride out the night storm. He is a fire bender so it shouldn't be too hard for him to keep dry."

Ty Lee sat down again, this time cross-legged with her hands in her laps pouting at Azula. "I still can't believe you just let me think Tatsu was dead…"

Azula chuckled a little, she didn't actually think it was funny she was just laughing to shake off Ty Lee's pout. "Really Ty Lee, you should learn not to just assume things, all I said was that Tatsuya wasn't here."

* * *

Author's note- I could tell you why I haven't updated in a while, but you probably don't mind now that I have.


	8. But Never Forgotten

The swamp creature came crashing down, its face just where the Captain was standing, where Azula had been standing not a second ago. The Captain had had to stop to toss Azula out of harm's way, and with the creature's viney body came crashing down a tidal wave of swamp water. Tatsuya turned just in time to see the buck of the creature hit, and the wave come crashing over him.

Tatsuya turned and dove to the ground, hoping to just have the wave wash over him, but he was still mid air when the torrent crashed over him. It snatched him out of the air and brought him with it, tumbling him about the churning mouth. He battled his eyes open against the foaming lashing chaos, and planted his halberd in passing tree with all his might.

The supplies were torn from his back bringing his shoulder pads with them and he feared his legs would be next for the wave to remove. Vines tangled themselves around his ankles and as the torrent waters pulled them they tightened and threatened to crush his armor along with his legs. The Captain through his arms over his halberd and scanned the trees. He smiled a little as he saw Azula clung to a tree trunk a few feet above the raging waters. The vines pulled on him as something snagged on them and he winced. Azula looked over at him, he smiled. "Princess! You go on ahead! I'll catch up!" He yelled and let go of his halberd.

Tatsuya was pulled under in a second, but the vines about his legs went slack as he was pulled right along with them and he freed his legs with a little kicking. He managed to struggle to the surface, but his heavy metal armor weighted him down and he was under again.

The water tossed him about, tumbling him around like a fly in a hurricane. One minute he was up right scratching at the surface and the next he was kicking the earth and stumbling to free himself from tangled vines or tree roots. A moment later the torrent crashed his back against the trunk of a tree, knocking his breath out of him, something particularly hard to do to, and extraordinarily dangerous for a Fire Bender. His armor took the front of the blow, and had it not Tatsuya would have slipped unconscious. As it was he managed to spread his arms and legs to either side, effectively wrapping himself around the tree.

The Captain panted fighting to catch his breath without swallowing any of the water crashing against his chest, and striving to remove him from the tree so that it might thrash him about again. But he held fast, vines lashed against him pressed against him by the same force that held him to the tree trunk. He worried about large debris crushing him, but none ever came.

The waters calmed, and the Captain floated down the tree with the water level. When the waters finally receded, or passed, he sat at the base of the tree, panting madly, vines tangled about in front of him.

Once he'd caught his breath Tatsuya struggled to his feet, he was sore all over, his arms from fighting the current, his legs from being pulled on by the vegetation, his chest from the impact of the tree, and his neck from forcing his head out of the raging waters time and again.

He took a deep breath and hooked his thumbs in his belt. "So… where am I?" He looked around. "Still in the swamp, somewhere…" It was a swamp everything looked the same, and different at the same time, the Captain couldn't tell one mucky sandbar from another. "Alright..." He scratched the back of his head; his top knot had come undone by the wave and his hair was tangled with leaves swamp muck and a several other things that were possibly alive. "Let's recap; I'm lost in a swamp with a giant vine monster in it… My Halberd is on the other side of a tidal wave long expanse, in…" He looked around trying to figure out which direction was the way he'd come. "Some direction…" He sighed again. "And Princess Azula is probably plotting my death as we speak… plus she might or might not kill me even if I do manage to find my way back to her in a timely fashion."

Tatsuya adjusted his armor a little, he realized that his shoulder pads had been torn off with the supplies and just unclasped his chest plate. His baggy undershirt was soaked through and dripped as he slung his armor plates onto his back. "And I have no supplies, weapons or map…" He sighed again; all and all things probably couldn't get much worse. "Well might as well start walking…" He just sort of picked a direction and started walking in it, he was actually going somewhat the way he'd come, but a little more north that he needed.

It wasn't long before he found life, it was a swamp the place brimmed with all manner of creatures, Cat-Gators, Screamer Birds, even the occasional Dragon-Fly. Most of it left him alone, the Cat-Gators knew better than to bite off more than they could chew, and he stayed out of their way so as to not disturb the locals, but it wasn't those locals he had to worry about.

Coming to investigate the torrential destruction of the tidal wave were two swamp benders. "What do you reckin' it was?" Asked the tall skinny one bending the boat forward, his companion manning the rudder was a shorter rounder swamp dweller.

"T'was probably just Huu, scarin' off some fokes what weren't respectin' the swamp… I heard from one o' the others that there was a Fire Nation box, sittin' outside the western edge. Was all made outta metal and was bein' dragged around by a rhinoceros." He looked around at the path of the wave, it wasn't really destruction, most of the swamp things that might have suffered from the current had been covered by the wave, and everything else was strong enough to weather it.

"Huh…" The bender stopped and just let their craft drift forward. "Say weren't the Fire Nation the one's what we've been warin' with for like, ever?"

"Yep, that's them…"

"What'd ya suppose they've got a rhinoceros draggin' a metal box around fer?"

Tatsuya noticed them before they noticed him, and ducked behind a tree as they passed. The Captain kept an open ear as to their conversation however, he was lost and if he could he would like to find out where he was from the two.

"How should I know? Maybe they've got some big swamp wave makin' weapon sittin' in the back an' that's what caused the wave." The short one suggested, with a little sarcasm.

The bender scratched the back of his head. "Huh, do ya really figur' they've got somethin' like that?"

"Well I figure they'd had themselves some better machinations what when they started the war, and no one's been able ta attack the Fire Nation itself nearest as I can figure for near a hundred years. So who might know what things they've been buildin' back there?"

Tatsuya blinked a little, he hadn't really expected guys wearing leaves for hats and pants to be brilliant, but he'd hadn't figured they'd be well, as dense as stone. On the Brightside this meant he could use them. He walked out from behind a tree. "Uh, hello there, excuse me my friends but I seem to have gotten myself a bit lost."

The two swamp dwellers looked over at him with rather blank expressions. "Who the heck are you?" Asked the one manning the rudder, the bender just kind of watched him.

The Captain paused for a second, he was still wearing clearly Fire Nation clothing, and he could easily be made for a soldier, but then he got an idea and smiled at them scratching the back of his head. "Well actually I'm an Earth Kingdom spy…" He chuckled a little.

"Well what cha doin' here? Spyin' on the gators?" said the scrawny swamp bender.

Tatsuya stopped chuckling but kept scratching the back of his head. "Well… actually I've kinda been separated from those that I've been assigned to spy on." He smirked a little and took a few steps toward them, wading out toward their boat. "Perhaps you've seen them? Three girls, one's pretty upbeat, another's a bit of a downer, and the third's drop dead gorgeous?"

"Hmm… Don't reckon we've seen anyone like that, you said yer supposed to be spyin' on em? What'd they do? Are they like real nasty fire benders, what are here ta destroy us?" The round one scratched his chin a little as the boat drifted to a stop a few feet in front of the captain.

"Well… No, not exactly, they're just some people of interest to the Earth Kingdom, and I'm supposed to be reporting back on their movements." Tatsuya figured it was best not to tell the swamp benders everything; they probably weren't so dense as to ignore the fire nation princess traveling through their swamp.

"Well how ya gonna do that if ya don't know where they are?" The Captain twitched a little at the swamp bender's question.

"Well that's why he's askin' where they are Due, come on, think before ya talk." The round bender pointed out, Tatsuya smirked a little, mostly because he hadn't really wanted to have to be the one to point out the obvious.

"Oh… so he's talkin' about them three girls what were skulkin' around just west o' here. Though I don't know about none of 'em bein' too upbeat, they all seemed kinda down ta me. But there was one what had a long braid an' some big boobies." The swamp bender held his hands up to his chest to demonstrate, the Captain twitched again. "An' then there was the one what was lookin' kinda like a drowned mole-rat, had all sorts o' black stuff leaking out her eyes." Due looked back at his companion.

The round swamp bender snapped his fingers. "Yeah… and then there was that last one, what reminded ya o' something what was gonna eat cha!" The two nodded pleased with their recollection of the Fire Nation girls.

The Captain was trying to restrain himself, sure their recollections had be more or less dead on, but he still didn't like people talking about the noble girls the way that the swamp benders were. He grit his teeth and smiled. "Hehe… Yeah that's them alright. So you wouldn't happen to have seen where they were camped would you?"

"Well yeah… but it's gonna be dark soon, an only an idiot goes out inta the swamp after sundown." Tatsuya paused to think for a moment, after sundown his bending would be significantly weaker, and he had no supplies to speak of, plus even if he did rendezvous with the princess they'd still have no way to get out of the swamp. "Why don't cha hitch a ride with us back ta our place, we'll get cha all cleared out on where yer goin' and you can head out ta find yer Fire Nation ladies tomorrow."

"Well…" The Captain rubbed his neck; he was hesitant to leave Azula to her own devices, particularly while walking into an enemy camp. "I could use a map…" But then again he was hopelessly lost.

"Hope in kid, we'll get cha all set up right an' you can tell us 'bout how the war's goin' outside." Tho said with a smirk, bringing up a wave behind Tatsuya as he waved his arm toward the boat, the wave carried the Captain up enough that he stepped, a little shocked into the swamp craft.

"Hehe, thanks, I'm afraid I was having a hard time finding my way around on my own."

"Yeah that happens pretty easy 'round here." Due said starting to wave his arms about as he started the boat forward, the Captain sat down fairly quickly as the small swamp craft got going pretty fast pretty quick.

"So tell us kid, how's the war goin' out there? Anyone won yet?" Tho asked as he drove the craft around a tree, and back toward the swamp bender camp.

Tatsuya chuckled a little. "Heh, well not yet I'm afraid. The front line is pushed forward a little more each day, but right now everyone is looking for the Avatar. If the Fire Nation captures him then they will have essentially sealed their victory, Ba Sing Sei is the only place they can't touch and soon enough it will be the last place to hid from them."

"Well 'sides our swamp, Fire Nation hasn't been here in forever..." Due added in.

"No place will be safe, the world's changing, and the Fire Nation is the driving force behind it." The Captain said this a little somberly, yet with a trace of determination.

The three men road the craft up to the swamp bender camp shore in silence after that. Even the swamp benders could tell that there was no reason to continue the conversation after that. The only thing was that they felt it because they believed that the Fire Nation was changing the world for the worse, Tatsuya demanded that it was for the better.

The Captain maintained his façade through dinner. He entertained the swamp benders with tales of foolish Fire Benders and Earth Kingdom surprise attacks, he left out the part where the Fire Benders won and the attacks failed. He regarded the insect feast with hesitant but open minded eyes and had himself two or three of the large swamp bugs before retiring. He didn't actually go to sleep till late. His mind was preoccupied, it wasn't that he didn't trust that the Princess could survive without him, she was a better bender that he'd ever be, and with Mai and Ty Lee at her sides there wasn't a force he could fathom that could defeat her. He worried that she'd leave without him, life in the swamp did not interest him, and while he could easily pass for an Earth Kingdom citizen, he didn't want to.

The next day he thanked the swamp benders and left at sunrise. They supplied him with leaf sacks of fish and insects, along with a rough map of the swamp, it didn't show much but it had the center tree and their camp along with enough detail to figure out your own location, but didn't actually show the edges of the swamp. He eagerly trudged off into the swamp toward where the swamp benders had last seen Azula.

After about an hour of trudging through swamp muck passing trees that all looked the same and exchanging glances with Cat-Gators his mind started to wander. He didn't really pay any attention to where it wandered to; he just concentrated on the path in front of him.

He didn't stop walking till he froze dead in his tracks. The color was pulled from his face and he was left with an unnatural pallor. Tatsuya swallowed his heart down and scanned the trees. He smirked a little and rubbed his forehead lightly as the vision passed. "Heh… I'm hallucinated… Probably shouldn't have had that third bug…"

"Or that first…" He started walking again though his breath was still coming in short breaths and it took him a while to regain his color. He turned his mind to trying to find a way to cook insects that would remove any toxic properties, theoretically if you boiled anything long enough, the question was would that make strip the insides of their naturally fluid texture, and was that necessarily a bad thing?

Then, roughly an hour later, the Captain froze again. This time he grit his teeth and tensed, prepared for the onslaught of his past, he waited it out where he stood. And it, like the first vision passed shortly after it had appeared, he shook his head, trying to clear the memories out. "They're gone." He pressed a fist to his forehead. "They're not coming back…" He started walking determinedly forward. "I'm stronger now." He hissed to under his breath as he glared down at the muck around his feet and allowed a small curl of flames roll out over his teeth.

He paused again, not a moment later. "The past should stay past." He glared at the woods, his eyes rolling over the trees and shrubs, as if searching for the culprit that had been summoning his past. Once he was certain there wasn't another vision waiting behind a tree he trudged on. He didn't meet with another vision after that.


	9. Time's Lament

The Fire princess awoke early that morning. The sun had just started to illuminate the dense swamp, beams peaking through branches to the east. Their camp fire was just a pile of glowing embers now, but Azula didn't much feel like rekindling it.

She surveyed her friends. Their somber mood had never lifted last night, even after the revelation that the Captain could have been alive, if alone, somewhere in the swamp. Ty Lee was curled up against the trunk of the tree they'd camped under, while Mai was balled up in her robes trying to stay warm. Azula had simply fallen asleep in a meditation stance, to be perfectly honest it hadn't been the first time, it was a comfortable way to sit and she preferred it to sleeping in the mud like some common urchin.

The princess stood, slowly leaning forward and shifting her weight to one arm as she folded her legs up under her then straitened them to stand strait and tall, well as tall as she was. She surveyed her surroundings; still in a swamp. Azula pouted a little, she would have to go without a bath today, sure there was enough water around, and she could always heat it with her bending, and she was coated in a thin layer of swamp gunk from her fight with the swamp beast and subsequently spending the night on a damp sandbar, but there was no place private enough and she did not want to bath with unclean beasts like Cat-Gators watching, nor did she for see any particular benefit from bathing in a swamp to clean swamp gunk off.

Slightly vexed by being deprived her morning ritual Azula permitted herself to sigh as she crossed her arms behind her back. Her clothes were slightly stiff and had a thin layer of muck dried onto them now, it dawned on her that her spare clothing had been lost along with the Captain and the rest of their supplies in the wave. She groaned a little and rubbed her eyes, she was done with being in this wretched swamp, and it was high time they headed out, with or without the Captain. "Mai, Ty Lee, get up. We've heading out.

Ty Lee's eyes fluttered open and she bounced to her feet stretching out her almost abnormally flexible body. She yawned slightly. "Gee Azula; we're sure getting an early start."

Mai woke with less vigor than her comrades. He eyes never made it more than half open and she didn't move to do much beside shift her arms. "That's just because she wants to find the Captain…" She yawned and stood up. "If only to give him back his halberd." Mai knew better than to point her pessimism toward the Fire Princess, directly at least. The Goth girl stretched out a little after receiving a bit of a glare from the princess and pulled the halberd free from above their dead fire pit, it had long 

since cooled. Mai spun the blade once to get a feel for it; it was too top heavy for her to wield it effectively but she laid it over her shoulder all the same.

Ty Lee flipped up from a pose that raised some serious questions about the integrity of her spinal column and giggled at Azula's side. "I knew you liked him Azula, of course there's plenty to like about him…" The gymnast girl stared out into the swamp a little. "He's cute and loyal, smart, and really strong…"

Before she could continue Azula interjected. "Yes well… let's see if we can't find him before some swamp thing eats him shall we?"

Ty Lee blinked a couple of times as her train of thought was derailed and thrown off a cliff. "Oh, yeah sure that'd be good." She smiled and bounced into place at Azula's left.

Mai yawned and walked up on the princess's right. "If he has been eaten by something can we just leave? I'm tired of having muck in my shoes and my clothes haven't been wholly dry since we got here."

Azula smirked a little as she set off into the swamp. "Well of course we can Mai; we just have to make sure the Captain is dead first. After all, can't have him running about in here on his own now can we?"

"We can't?" Ty Lee blinked a little as she waded through the swamp alongside her friends.

"No Ty Lee, we can't." Azula rolled her eyes a little, sure it was early, but she had kind of hoped that the gymnast's brain woke up as quickly as her body did.

The three walked in more or less silence for over an hour. Every once in a while Mai would ask if they could just call the Captain dead and leave, Ty Lee would comment with something along the lines of what if he's alive, and Azula would point out that the Captain had their maps. Then about fifteen minutes later they would go through much the same conversation with slightly different words choices.

None of them were paying particular attention to anything. Aside from the princess that is, Azula carefully surveyed everything as they passed it. She was mostly concerned with encountering the swamp thing again, yet deep in the back of her mind she could feel her concern for the Captain. Now the mere fact that she was feeling concern for any living creature other than herself was enough to put the princess in a foul mood, but the fact that that living creature was an attractive older boy added fuel to the flames.

Something splashed from just out of sight and Azula stopped in her tracks. She didn't strike a battle pose, after all it was most likely just a Cat-Gator, but the three girls were waist deep in swamp water, and the princess didn't trust that a creature like a Cat-Gator would be intelligent enough to understand that attacking her was taunting death.

Mai paused as the princess stopped walking. She looked over to where the splashing had come from and slipped a knife into her hand, she was still carrying the Captain's halberd but she still had one hand with which to through small deadly things into the eyes of approaching creatures.

Ty Lee just prepared to leap in some direction, really that would depend on what came around the corner. If it was a Cat-Gator she would leap to one side to try and distract it while one of the others killed and/or scared it away, if it was something gross she'd jump back away from it, and if it was something cute she'd jump on top of it to hug it.

It was Tatsuya. Ty Lee squeed and jumped strait at him tossing her arms around his neck swinging about a little once she grabbed him. "Tatsu! You're alive, we were sooo worried!" The gymnast's sudden assault nearly caused them both to tumble into the muck, but she let herself down and leaned forward crossing her arms behind her back and smiling up at him while he regained his balance.

Azula blinked a little and then rubbed her eyes; leave it up to Ty Lee to ruin what little dignity their pack had managed maintained after being drenched in swamp muck and left without food for half a day by bursting into a girlish flurry at the first sight of their lost comrade. The princess permitted herself to sigh, though she did smile at the Captain. "Good to see you're not dead Tatsuya."

He smiled and saluted the princess, but before he could say anything Mai walked over and practically shoved his halberd back to him. "Yeah great. You're not dead. I don't suppose you happened to find a way out of this festering swamp while you were out not dying?"

Tatsuya chuckled a little and scratched the back of his head; he wasn't wearing his top armor, other than his arm bands. His chest plates had been sacrificed to build a carrying pack better than a bunch of leaves. "Well actually I have managed to acquire a map, but it just shows the local area, and doesn't show where the edge is."

Azula blinked at the Captain. "And just where did you get a map like that?" It seemed like too much of a coincidence for the Captain to have just found a map that told them how to get out of the swamp during his time lost, particularly since he couldn't possibly have mapped out the swamp on his own, he'd only been missing a day.

"The locals, water benders, I managed to convince them I was with the Earth Kingdom, they don't seem too bright." Tatsuya climbed up a nearby root and set his pack down; pulling out the map the swamp benders had given him. Ty Lee bounced over him to perch behind him higher up on the root and looked over his shoulder, Mai walked over around his other side. Azula just walked up to face him.

Azula stood in front of him as the Captain laid the map out between them; he had north facing him so that the south faced the princess. "I can only assume we are somewhere around this area." Tatsuya pointed to a place near the center of the swamp. "If we head due south we should be able to breach the edge of the swamp by sundown. I'm not sure where exactly we'll be after that, this map wasn't drawn with the outside world as reference, and I'm not even sure north and south are correctly marked… But following it should at least get us out of the swamp."

"If it means we get out of this swamp. I'm all for following the map." Mai said tucking her arms into her sleeves.

"I don't know… A map that can't be relied on sounds like it could just get us more lost…" Ty Lee for once played the skeptic. It was actually a refreshing change for the princess to hear Mai touting the pros, and Ty Lee the cons.

Too bad she had to agree with Mai. "This swamp is getting us nowhere, the Avatar has probably left long ago and we can't waste anymore time here, let's a find our way out and then a town to resupply at. Finding the Avatar is out number one priority, we can no longer be distracted by plant monsters and oversized mud holes." Azula looked from Mai to the Captain to Ty Lee, they each nodded in turn, well Ty Lee and Tatsuya nodded, Mai just sort of smiled. "Let's head out."

The Captain nodded, Ty Lee smiled, Mai smirked and Azula took the map, rolling it up and tucking it into her armor between her breasts. The four of them set out again, though no one admitted it, their mood was much improved by the Captain's return.

Yet something uneasy still shimmered in the shadows of the swamp. Azula was on edge, but she didn't know why, and that merely put her more on edge. It was one thing to simply be on edge in a strange environment, she almost expected that of herself, but to not be able to tell why she was on edge, that bothered her. And what only added to her ire, was that she was actually taking some comfort from the presence of the Captain. She didn't understand why, apparently a growing list, another thing that irked her.

After all, Ty Lee was a skilled gymnast with a mastery of pressure points, and with her ability to block chi, there wasn't a bender alive she couldn't stop in their tracks, perfect for chasing the ultimate bender, and Mai, dreary little Mai. She had more knives hidden away than even Azula could keep track of, she was at least as agile as the princess, perhaps more so, not to mention her drab little monotone was perfect for concealing any deceptions Azula might need. Sometimes it was hard for even the princess to tell when she was lying.

The Captain was a mediocre bender with a long sharp stick. He was less than a dime a dozen, he was more like a nickel a dozen. There was an entire army of fire benders at Azula's beckon call, and yet she felt some… thing toward the Captain. Azula wasn't a fool, she could tell that she had some sort of feelings toward the Captain; it was simply that she refused to admit that to herself. Refusing her emotions was something Azula traditional didn't do, it was messy and restricted her bending, but there was simply something so improper about the Princess of the Fire Nation, the most powerful nation in of the world, harboring feelings for some worthless no name half breed Captain. Still if by no means what so ever did word of her feelings ever see so much at a sliver of daylight…? The princess glanced back at him.

There had to be some way… Azula had always gotten her way before. Perhaps if upon her success she touted the Captain's assistance. No Ty Lee and Mai would know what had really happened, and they would never let the princess live her crush down. Well, it wasn't likely Mai would care, but Ty Lee wouldn't let Azula live it down.

While the princess schemed they walked, slowly and steadily through the swamp. Ty Lee on Azula's right, Mai on the princess's left, and Tatsuya a few steps behind. The creatures of the swamp knew better than to mess with the four of them, in truth they knew better than to mess with Azula, animal instinct told them not to anger her and anything that didn't listen to its instincts was deswayed by the look of her companions. Ty Lee radiated so much energy animals worried about what she might do to them, Mai stood in such stark contrast to the gymnast that the creatures of the swamp gave the two a half mile buffer zone, and then there was the Captain and his sizable pole-arm, he added another ten feet.

The four stopped briefly for lunch when the sun was at its highest. The Captain grilled the fish from the swamp benders for the girls, but refrained from giving them any of the grilled insects, he still held concerns about their edibility. It was probably just as well, none of the girls would have eaten a giant insect.

Soon enough they were on their way again, but the silence of their traveling was starting to get to Ty Lee. She scanned the area for something interesting, but the animals were still keeping their distance and no matter how hard you tried swamps just weren't that interesting. Nor was Mai, sure she was interesting to think about, just not to talk to. Azula? No… talking about Azula was never a particularly good idea, unless you were fire proof, and lighting proof, and there wasn't anything particularly sharp around. The Captain! He was new, he was interesting, he had a past she didn't know about, and he was cute. He was perfect.

"Say Tatsu?" The gymnast started, her head was tossed back as she stared backward at him; he looked over at her respectfully uninterested in what she was going to say. "What was it like growing up in the colonies?"

Something changed the moment Ty Lee asked, it wasn't something physical, but it was a change felt by each of them. Azula slowed her pace and looked back over her shoulder; Mai removed her hands from her sleeves and looked over at Tatsuya.

The Captain had been smiling, not for any particular reason other than when a superior addressed him he had the habit of smile back at them. He wasn't anymore. "It was…" He paused to find a word that would both be honest, and murder the subject of his past where it stood. "Unpleasant."

"Oh come now Captain." Azula smirked. "Surely you must have some interesting tales of growing up the child of a Fire Nation soldier in an occupied Earth Kingdom town. I would not have assumed that it was pleasant."

None of the other girls knew why the princess had taken an interest in the Captain's past; Mai didn't even know why Ty Lee had. In truth the princess was hoping that there some something in the Captain's past that would aid her in validating him. She admitted that she liked him, to herself at least, but before she could allow herself to act on her feelings she needed something to validate him. He was just a soldier after all, one of hundreds, and she was the princess of the most powerful nation in the world, the heir to the throne, the daughter of Fire Lord Ozai, whomever she married would become the next Fire Lord. Sure she wasn't exactly picking out her wedding dress, that was more Ty Lee thing's anyway, but still she was a woman and wasn't going to start a relationship that couldn't possible become anything at all. She needed a reason, something, anything that she could use to validate him.

Tatsuya frowned, but he wasn't going to directly refuse the princess. He took a deep breath. "My father was a soldier in General Iroh's army. His unit was to reinforce the General's position at the wall of Ba Sing Sei, they passed through my mother's town on the way. It was already occupied by that point but I don't think there'd ever been any particularly large Fire Nation presence."

He paused and the girls looked back at him, he wasn't telling the story like it was his past. It was more like he was talking about someone else's past, someone he was less than friends with. "My mother worked a tavern in town, she was just a waitress but apparently something about her must have caught my father's eye. He forced himself on her, and his unit moved out a few days after." He spoke of his conception in cold, almost military jargon, and yet there was something in it that Azula found interesting. She wondered how he came to think of himself in such dark, vile, terms.

"My father died shortly after they broke through the first wall, but he got farther than most ever have. My mother was left to raise me alone in an occupied town, against her will. It was rough, the other children were almost entirely Earth Kingdom, and several of them were even earth benders." There was more than what he was telling; the princess could feel it in how he spoke around the subject. She couldn't yet tell what it was, but she could tell it was there. "They didn't much care for me, picked on me. Kid stuff mostly, throwing rocks, starting fights, that sort of thing. It got better once I discovered my bending; people tend to avoid upsetting an eight year old with the power to sling fireballs." Azula smirked; she knew exactly what he was talking about. Fear was a powerful motivator. "Anyway shortly after that I joined the military to get some formal training in my bending. I left town and didn't return until after I became Captain and forged my halberd." He smirked at the girls shrugging a little; again there was more he wasn't telling.

It was clear to Azula at least that he had avoided telling them most everything he could about his past after all, all Earth Benders did was throw rocks, but now wasn't the time to push the point, she hadn't learned anything particularly useful about his past, and didn't much care to learn anymore at the moment.

Mai sighed. "Sounds depressingly boring Tatsuya…" She yawned a little fanning her mouth to prevent any swamp insects from getting any ideas.

"Yeah Tatsu, didn't you have any friends or someone you left behind?" Ty Lee leaned over toward him. Azula rolled her eyes; it was so obvious she was asking if he'd left behind a girl that the princess actually felt sorry for the Captain.

He smirked a little. "No Lady Ty Lee, the only one I left home was my mother, and honestly… I doubt she misses me."

"Wow. Now that's just seems sad… even to me." Mai said with a sigh.

They left it at that, and several hours later the four of them broke the edge of the swamp. It hadn't taken till sundown as the captain had projected, but they didn't stop at the swamp's edge. They kept walking till the sun did go down, looking for a village or a convoy, or their carriage. It was clear the Avatar wasn't around there anymore, but if they could get to a town they could resupply, wash their clothes, and perhaps pick up the trail.


	10. The Princess Bride

The four traveled on foot for a couple of days outside the swamp. The Captain had his chance to truly shine. His survival skills kept the three girls well fed and comfortable, simple things like the knowledge of how to construct a snare, or what roots of what grasses could be eaten or how to use his chest plat as a cooking pot. They'd been well enough supplied by the unwitting swamp benders, at least with the bare necessities like water skins, filled with clean water by the Captain boiling swamp water between his chest plates, and dried fish, a little tough but after being seasoned properly even Mai didn't complain.

Soon enough they came upon a town. There was just a slight problem; the town flew an Earth Kingdom flag. An occupied town would fly the Fire Nation banner, and a town with no garrison wouldn't risk taking a side. The four made camp on a hill overlooking it, and looked to Azula for their course of action.

The princess crossed her arms and thought. The town wasn't huge, a small farming community from the looks of it. It was a safe enough bet that however many soldiers were stationed there the girls could handle them. Ty Lee could easily disable an entire squad of Earth Bender, and Mai could be relied on to remove any potentially dangerous non-bender threats, and even if somehow they were both deadlocked Azula could burn the entire place down with a breath. The problem was that burning the town down meant that they wouldn't be able to fully resupply there, and even if they cleared the local garrison they didn't have the numbers needed to occupy a town by themselves. They had the Captain, he could possibly pass for an Earth Kingdom citizen, but they didn't have any money, and besides even without his armor he could be picked out as Fire Nation soldier from a mile off.

Hmm, if they couldn't use force or deception, perhaps a different kind of deception, Azula held no delusions about what Earth Kingdom soldiers would do to three seemingly defenseless Fire Nation girls, but perhaps some, seemingly naïve, lightly defended, Fire Nation girls could slip in, do some light shopping and be on their way. "Captain?" The princess opened her eyes and looked across their fire pit to the Captain. They were all gathered around the empty pit Tatsuya had dug, Ty Lee on the left Mai on the right, all waiting for Azula to tell them what to do, just how she liked it. "What do you know about thievery?"

Tatsuya blinked a little. "Um… not much, I suppose if it came to it I could mug someone fairly easily." He was sitting up on the pile of dirt from the fire pit. He leaned his halberd out trying to look menacing. "I doubt they'd be particularly excited to tangle with a halberdier."

"Are we thinking of robbing someone Azula?" Ty Lee leaned toward the princess.

"Well we don't have any money, and I doubt the Earth Kingdom is just going to take our word that we'll pay them back." Mai answered for Azula.

"Well, I have always wanted to try my hand at sleight of hand." Ty Lee chuckled picking up several small pebbles and making them dance around her fingers before vanishing.

"Precisely." Azula smirked at how well her comrades were adapting to her plan, and before they even knew what it was in its entirety. "We can't expect the town's folk to just turn a blind eye to us robbing them, of course the whole point of robbing them is to not get caught, so we won't. We will however have to enter the town under a guise of someone else."

"O!" Ty Lee smiled and clapped her hands together. "I love role playing! Who are we going to be pretending to be Azula?"

"Yes. Do tell." Mai seemed less than thrilled with the idea of pretending to be someone else, of course it didn't matter much anyway, Azula always cast them as someone they could easily pull off, most of the time the Princess did all the talking anyway.

"Well it's certain that we can't be Mai the governor of New Ozai's daughter, or Azula princess of the Fire Nation. Any Earth Kingdom soldiers no matter how weak would easily toss their lives away trying to capture, or kill us, for the ones who did would be heroes." No one particularly cared about killing Ty Lee, she was from a noble family sure, but her parents had done well to stay out of the public eye thus far, and while they would no doubt be heart broken by the news of her death, it wasn't like they didn't have spares.

"More so the one who kills you Azula. I'm not sure anyone really cares about killing a governor's daughter. Especially now that my brother's been born." Mai groaned about the pointlessness of her existence.

"Well regardless, it would be best to avoid conflict during this visit, and going in as who we are begs for battle, as does going in defenseless. So we're going in someplace in between. We're going in as tourists." Azula smirked.

Ty Lee squeed. "Oh I've always wanted to tour the Earth Kingdom! That was one of the reasons I joined the circus!"

"Ty Lee. You do realize we're not actually going to be tourists right?" Mai looked over at her friend with mock concern.

"I know, but we're going to be pretending to be tourists, and that's good enough for me." Ty Lee smirked over at her gothic friend.

"What would you have me to princess?" Tatsuya looked across the empty fire pit at the fire princess.

He would never pass for a tourist, not with his armor and halberd at least, and Azula was hesitant to have him leave either. "Well for starters Tatsuya, you'll have to stop calling me princess. Likewise we'll have to refrain from calling you Captain, it would be best if the town's folk didn't discover you're military." Azula smirked a little. "You'll be our bodyguard." She had already given his role some thought. "And while we're doing some 'shopping' you're to find a place for us to spend the night, and 'acquire' the money to pay for lodging there." It was fairly clear she meant steal in both instances.

The Captain bowed his head a little. "Of course prin-Azula." He caught himself from calling her princess, she smirked. "Do you have any preferences I should look for in our lodgings Lady Azula?"

"Oh…" Azula paused for a moment to consider, less than a moment really. "Do try and find someplace with a bathing chamber Capt…" She sighed and mentally scolded herself. "Tatsuya." Ty Lee chose that moment to giggle quietly and earn herself a glare from Azula. Tatsuya bowed his head a little and as Azula's gaze passed along her comrades. They all looked prepared, Ty Lee was smiling, Mai had her stilettos adjusted and Tatsu was standing with his halberd at his side. "Well, shall we then?"

"Let's." Mai stood up and dusted herself off. "Remind me to get a change of clothes in town; these _still _have swamp muck on them."

"O! I'd love to pick up a few cute Earth Kingdom outfits!" Ty Lee said bouncing up across from the dower girl.

Azula stood up, she felt like dusting her armor off as Mai had attempted to do with her robes, only she could already tell that it would be even less effective. Fire bending herself dry time and again had baked the filth on.

The fire princess led them into town. Tatsuya walked at her side his blade ready at his side. Azula smirked a little at how he slouched his posture a little and leaned his blade over his shoulder rather than leaving it strapped to his back. Had she not know him before she might have pegged him for a mercenary, which was good, exactly what she need him to appear. Mai's act was less, existent. The gloomy girl didn't actually behave any differently, of course for her there wasn't much to conceal in the first place. Ty Lee on the other hand was fully embracing her new role as a tourist. The gymnast leaned over market displays, ohhing an ahhing over whatever they happened to be displaying, before scurrying back over to heir group. Azula kept an eye out for the local guards.

It didn't take long for them to show up, a few minute of Tatsuya leaning on shops with his blade at his side while Ty Lee giggled about how pretty something they were selling was and a group of Earth Kingdom soldiers appeared on the edge of the town's market. Azula spied them before they ever got formally organized, it didn't appear there was more than a handful, and the only one that moved like a bender was their leader.

Azula glanced to Tatsuya; he nodded to her in recognition that he saw them too. Mai noticed them as well; Earth Benders weren't the stealthiest bunch. Ty Lee kept shopping, or shoplifting rather, it wasn't hard for her, for some reason the shop keeps never seemed to be paying any attention to her hands.

The bender guard put his hands on his hips and marched over to them; Tatsuya leaned forward and gripped his halberd. Azula rolled her eyes, men, always having to mark their territory. "What do you think you're doing here?" The bender and two of his associates demanded as they walked over.

Azula smirked for half a second before looking over at them with her best, innocent little girl face. "Oh? Is this an Earth Kingdom town?" She put her fingers to his lips and faked a worried look. "I-I'm sorry, we're Fire Nation, but we're just tourists." She gestured over to Ty Lee, who was busy giggling and picking out flowing green robes to hold up on a less than interested Mai.

"Yeah, what about him?" One of the non-bender guards jabbed a spear, though it was really more like a sharp stick, toward Tatsuya, who growled and lunged forward a little. Both the non-bender guards dodged back from Tatsuya and his impressive Metal halberd.

Tatsuya paused, at first waiting to see if Azula was going to explain his presence, but when the princess made no motion to continue her explanations he cut the pause short enough to not seem unusual. "Tsk…" He tossed his head to one side and spat at the ground, Azula twitched. "I'm just their bodyguard and guide, parents worry these days you know?" His thug impersonation actually impressed Azula, it wasn't perfect he still pronounced fully, but it was good enough.

"Not much of a guide to lead them into an enemy town." Commented the earth bender with a snide smirk.

Tatsuya readied his halberd, not getting into a stance or pointing it at anyone, but being in position to do so. "I didn't know we had any enemies here." He stood strait and tall, almost rising the same height as the guard. Azula practically choked on the testosterone flaring between the two.

The earth bender smirked. "Well, try to keep it that way." And with that he and his entourage left, at least from direct sight.

One of the guards who didn't approach the four stayed just inside an alley, no doubt to keep an eye on them. Azula looked to Tatsuya again, he nodded discreetly to her. "Tatsu, be a dear and check us in at a nice hotel would you?" Azula, still playing the sweet girl smiled at Tatsuya, still playing the gruff guard, and tucked her hands behind her. The captain smiled at her, and then rolled his eyes for the watching guard and nodded before walking off. He'd probably end up surveying the entire town before picking a place for them to stay at. At least that's what Azula would do, and she had somewhat grown to expect as much from him.

And that was just what he did, while Azula Ty Lee and Mai covertly robbed the town's merchants blind. Tatsuya slowly made his way around the entire town, plucking up a few purses that called out to him and roughing up a couple of thugs in an alley before renting a pair of rooms in the finest hotel in town, and promptly returning to Azula's side to give her the keys.

Meanwhile Azula and her merry band were having quite the time plundering the local merchants. Ty Lee mostly just distracted them, she was fairly good at gartering attention, Mai would lean and drape her sleeves innocently over something that wouldn't be there when she leaned back, and Azula, well Azula mostly just stayed out of it. Occasionally she would snag some careless person's coin purse, but the fact of the matter was that while wearing armor she didn't have any particularly easy place to hid stolen merchandise. Besides she couldn't help but feel that robbing street side stores was beneath a member of the Fire Nation Royal family, of course that thought reminded her too much of Zuko and his current predicament. Which in turn made her want to prove to herself that she and her brother were nothing alike by stealing something, she also had to keep an eye on the guard that was watching them without looking like she was keeping an eye on him. Mai and Ty Lee both knew he was there and were careful not to let him see or hear anything.

By the time Tatsuya returned to give Azula the keys to their hotel rooms the merchants were starting to get suspicious, so Azula thought it best to simply return to their rooms and plan in private, plus it would be nice to stay in a respectable place again after spending nights on the bare ground and in a swamp.

It wasn't until the four of them reached the suite's door that they spoke to each other. Well that's not exactly true, Ty Lee kept on talking to any of them who cared enough to look like they were listening about all the cute little things that the local merchants had and why she didn't get them because of this or that. Azula didn't mind, it just added to their character. What Azula did mind what that the door to the room which Tatsuya had acquired for her proclaimed itself to be the hotel's bridal suite in deep white letter carved into the door stone.

Ty Lee started to say something but the Captain cut her off. "The hotel only has two suites… this is the better of the two…" He gestured to the door which no matter how long you looked at it continued to claim to be the bridal suite. "I assumed you would prefer it regardless of its…" He paused for a word and Azula raised an eyebrow at him, if he chose the wrong word she was going to have to hurt him. "Ambiance." Azula pouted a little as she couldn't find a reason to hurt him in that word.

Ty Lee started to say something again but this time Azula cut her off. "Well, I suppose it is only for one night." She opened the door with the stone key and pushed the door open.

What greeted her was, in Azula's opinion, the worst attempt of creating a romantic atmosphere with the colors green and yellow she'd even seen. The center piece of the room was a large forest green bed, composed of a mattress atop a decorated stone slab of a yellowish gold color. The bed's headboard, made of a similar if not the same stone, was pushed up against the far wall and decorated with inlaid carvings of hearts and ribbons and other things that girls who weren't Azula liked. Foot board was shorter and without decoration opting for a more flowing pattern it was divided into a dozen pieces that twisted and curled about on their way to the long flat top piece. Four tall bed posts stuck out from the corners supporting a canopy and each had a small cup of glowing crystals facing away from the bed itself. There was a stone dresser of molded after a similar theme to the bed's right and a nightstand on either side. The room was lit with by a series of dimly glowing crystals mounted on the walls and in laid to the ceiling. They didn't give off much more light than would be seen at twilight and there were a series of currently unlit torches mounted on the walls below the crystals. Ty Lee thought the whole thing was utterly adorable.

Azula stood in the doorway and rubbed her eyes. "I'll get the lights." Tatsuya stepped past her politely but not too politely as they were likely still being watched and shot a small handful of fire at each torch.

"Thank you Tatsu." Azula faked a smile at him as she walked in once the torches were lit. It actually wasn't that bad once it had better lighting, there were some mediocre scroll paintings hanging on the walls and once she passed the doorway the fire princess spied a second door. Azula smirked a little the Captain had clearly asked for a suite with a personal bath as she had requested. Perhaps the bridal suite could be tolerable.

Azula took a seat on the bed's footboard and waited for the others to file in. Ty Lee bounced over to sit on one edge of the bed and Mai sat on the other. Tatsuya swept the room, closing the single window that sat in the opposite wall from the bathroom door and drawing the blinds to discourage the local guard's eye piece before standing between the nightstand and the dresser. Azula turned to face her comrades. "Alright ladies, and Tatsuya, what have got?" She tossed a pair of small coin purses onto the bed as her contribution to the daily take.

"Oh, I got these earrings," Ty Lee tossed a pair of bronze jade earrings onto the bed. "Oh and this necklace, oh and these bracelets, oh and this handkerchief cloth bandana thing." She tossed a sapphire 

necklace on followed by some gold bands and a decorative green piece of cloth onto the bed and smirked.

"Not bad Ty Lee, but I'm not certain if we actually need these things, though I suppose we could sell them." Azula honestly didn't know what to do with the jewelry and cloth, they were clearly nice things and that Ty Lee could steal them was no small feat, but currently they needed things like food and money. Azula turned to her other friend in hopes that she had procured some more useful items.

Mai sighed and began unloading her robes, about two minutes later she shook a final kiwi-lemon from her sleeve and looked to her friends. The bed was covered with kiwi-lemons, apple-plums, orange fruit, cabbages and other easily pawned food stuffs, along with a healthy amount of jewelry, some decorative knives, a pair of small katana knives, looking at the whole haul and the Goth one wondered which weighted more. "What?" Mai shrugged and tucked her hands in her sleeves.

"All I got was a few purses." Tatsuya tossed four or five bags onto the bed, two of which were already empty. "But renting the rooms nearly cleaned them out anyway." He sighed a little and leaned back against the wall.

Azula picked through the things sprawled out on her bed. The jewelry and bobbles were a bust, it wasn't like they could sell them to the people they stole them from, particularly in a town where everyone had their eyes on them, but the food and coin were useful. She opened a few of the purse and counted, there were a couple hundred coins, but only a handful of gold pieces mostly copper or silver. She poured the majority of them into one purse and tossed it to Tatsuya. "Here Tatsu, go into town and get what you can for dinner."

The Captain caught the bag with a little trouble, enough to make Ty Lee giggle, and bowed his head. "Of course Azula, though we've easily got enough her for a fruit salad." He smiled at Mai, who remained indifferent. "I'll just fetch some cutlery and plates shall I?" He bowed again before walking out.

Ty Lee smiled over at Azula, not that that was anything particularly peculiar about Ty Lee smiling at the princess, but it was the way that she smiled that was smiling that drew Azula's attention. Ty Lee was smiling in that big, I've got something to say because I was right kind of way. Azula looked over at the gymnast. "What?"

"You're calling Tatsuya Tatsu." She said this like it was the most scandalous thing ever.

Mai raised an eyebrow. "So? What's the big deal about Azula dropping a syllable from his name? You do it all the time."

Ty Lee giggled a little and swung around one of the best posts to lean over toward Azula. "I call him that because I think he's cute." Her tone made it clear she believe Azula was doing the same.

"Ty Lee, honestly, the only reason I've taken up calling him Tatsu is to better develop our cover." Azula shrugged a little; in all honesty she hadn't actually noticed she'd been calling the Captain Tatsu. Not that it bothered her particularly, it just meant that she'd been dropping the last syllable from his name; his name was a little long. She chose to ignore the fact that his name had the exact same number of syllables in it as her own.

"Suuure you did Azula..." Ty Lee giggled still leaning over her friend a little. Mai rolled her eyes and decided to stay out of it.

"Ty Lee, I really just do not understand where you've acquired this ridiculous notion that I have any feelings for Tatsuya beyond what I would for any soldier under my command." Azula remained careful to pick her words so that they wouldn't reveal anything to the possible interested parties listening, while continue to defend herself from Ty Lee's perhaps not so ridiculous accusations. She had to admit, she found it harder to remain indifferent toward the Captain while calling him by name.

"But we don't have any other soldiers with us right now." Ty Lee spun herself around the bed post and landed flat on her back in the middle of the bed, her legs draped over the supplies. "It's just us and Tatsu… You know Azula, If you want some alone time with him I'm sure Mai would agree with me when I say we'd be more than happy to go hang out in our room for a while." She giggled madly kicking her feet a little and clutching her hands in front of her mouth.

Azula looked like she was about to murder the giggling gymnast but Mai wisely intervened grabbing Ty Lee off the bed. "I think now might be a good time for us to give her that alone time." She pulled the 

other girl along as she left the princess's room; theirs was across the hall and had a pair of beds. It was the second best room in the hotel.

Azula twitched a little as her friends left. She glared at the mess on her bed and sighed, rubbing her eyes a little before setting to work cleaning things up. She very neatly laid the jewelry in one pile, the fruit in another, and complied what coins they had left into one purse and set that purse on the nightstand next to her bed.

The moment she was finished she smiled at her work, and tossed herself back onto the bed laying out as she stared up at the ceiling. Though you'd never get her to admit it, she'd hated having to sleep on cold rock, not to mention in her armor. She reached up to her collar and unclasped her chest piece and allowed herself to sigh a little as it went slack. Another thing you'd never get her to admit was that she'd got tired wearing her armor for three days strait. She sat up and undid the other clasp on her armor tossing it to the side of her bed as she rolled her shoulders glad to be free from the weight. Next to go were her shoes; she kicked them off to the bottom of the bed.

Once again the princess realized that she needed a change of clothes. Azula pouted a little and tried to figure out a way to bath without having to wait around naked for her clothes to be cleaned. It wasn't that she felt needed a bath, it was more that she just felt uncomfortable the same clothes she'd been wearing for several days now and she knew she would be much more comfortable in a clean set of clothing. Of course she could always steal someone else's, but then someone would have to run around naked for a while. She looked at the purse, she could probably afford to purchase new clothes, but green really wasn't her color, besides she highly doubted that there was anything in this nowhere town that befit a princess.

Still the problem of only having one set of clothes remained. Azula could probably just barrow the Captain's shirt, it would be big enough to keep her decent while her things were washed, but if Ty Lee heard she'd never let her hear the end of it.

The princess sighed, filled with that annoying feeling of wanting something and not knowing how to obtain it. Azula was quickly realizing that she held a great dislike for such feelings. They were just so… frustrating.


	11. Dinner Time

Tatsuya busied himself perusing the stands of what merchants weren't closing up for the night. They actually surprised him, having a variety of pots and bowls of a surprising quality, but then again it wouldn't take much effort for an earth bender to make a clay bowl. Of course the firing would be easiest for a fire bender, though the two working together was improbable, despite how lucrative such a pairing could be.

He bought up a few, well aware he would have to care everything, and the set to work looking for some kitchen knives. Though he had an impossible time trying to find an Earth Kingdom merchant who would sell knives to a Fire Nation soldier, even a simple set of kitchen knives, it was always something. 'I refuse to support the Fire Nation' or 'I'm against the war' and he knew better than to try and convince them that he was not going to go out and attempted to kill an earth bender with a set of kitchen knives. Soon enough the entire town knew he was shopping for knives, which actually worked in his favor. There's always that one merchant in any town that cares more for profit then politics. Tatsuya ended up paying an exorbitant amount for them but he got his knives, and they weren't actually of too bad quality, second hand most likely, but not bad.

He returned to the princess's chamber shortly thereafter. She'd locked the door so he knocked. It didn't take a moment for the princess to answer. Azula unlocked the door. "Oh Tatsuya it's just you. The fruit's over in the corner." She seemed less than pleased with the disturbance, most likely because she had removed most of her armor, now just in her loose underclothing and belt. She tucked her arms behind her and strolled over to her bed after loosely waving her hand toward the sorted piles of stolen merchandise.

Tatsuya bowed and walked over to the pile of fruit. He'd purchased a moderately sized green backpack with which to carry his various purchases. He slipped it off and set it next to him as he sat down in front of the fruit removing a large bowl and the knife set he'd searched for before diligently setting to work converting fruit into fruit salad.

Azula watched him work. Mostly for lack of anything else to watch, she'd debated going to investigate what Ty Lee and Mai were doing without her. Azula had often wondered how their time without her didn't result in them killing each other, but she was currently being warded off by the fact that Ty Lee was very likely still convinced that she had feelings for the Captain.

The princess watched Tatsuya nimbly slice apart the fruit Mai had stolen for them. Lack of board to cut on had forced him to improvise. He held the fruit in one hand and his knife in the other, blade upturned 

to face him. He actually wasn't so much cutting the fruit apart as he was slicing it, he'd pass it down across the blade holding the knife still to cut whatever he was holding into small strips. It wasn't a particularly peculiar method, but it was the speed and indifference that he cut with that Azula admired. He didn't seem to actually be paying attention to where he was cutting, and with the speed he was going a slip of his hand could easily loose him a finger. Though he never slowed down or altered his method, occasionally he would skin the fruit before reducing it to strips or brush his thumb over one to sear away a bruise or over ripe spot.

The princess wondered slightly why Mai had never shown such aptitude for slicing things apart. After all it was a certainty that the Goth girl had surer hands than the Captain, though Mai never had shown much interest, nor talent, in the culinary arts. Ty Lee tried on occasion to cook something or another but such attempts generally resulted in more smoke than Azula's fire bending sessions. Of course Azula had long since learned to incinerate rather than burn, which caused much less smoke but that wasn't the point.

"Tatsuya?" Azula decided to make conversation, she couldn't have told you exactly why, at least honestly.

The Captain turned and looked to her, still slicing the fruit, now without looking. "Yes Azula?"

"Where'd you learn to cook?" It was a perfectly valid question; after all it wasn't like the Fire Navy traditionally trained its young recruits in the gastronomic arts. As far as Azula knew, learning how to swim was optional, strongly recommended, but optional.

Tatsuya smirked back at the princess chuckling a little. "Well I suppose I started shortly after I learned I could bend." He turned back to his slicing, apparently not confident enough to carry a conversation and cut up fruit at the same time. It was just as well, Azula would rather have her dinner without fingers in it.

"So, you've been cooking for yourself for a while then." Azula thought on this, she'd never had to cook for herself; she'd always had chiefs or hosts who did that for her. Come to think of it, the only time the princess had ever been in a kitchen was when she and her friends were 'playing' with Zuko and needed some knives for props.

"Well not just myself, I used to cook for my mother, and the soldiers visiting our town when I was little." He smirked a little, and Azula wondered if perhaps that was a pleasant memory for him, it didn't seem like he would have many.

"Why would you want to cook for soldiers occupying your town?" Azula lay out on her bed leaning on her arms as she watched the captain dice fruit. "After all, you said the kids already picked on you because of your father. Wouldn't feeding Fire Nation troops just add fuel to the fire… so to speak?" She looked at her nails half heartedly, mostly just trying to look like she wasn't interested.

Tatsuya chuckled a little. "Well I suppose you could say I was a bit of a Fire Nation fan boy back then." He smirked and stared at the fruit he was finishing off, not really paying attention to it. "I kept thinking that maybe, if I joined the Fire Navy something would change."

Azula paused a little and looked at him more honestly than she'd ever really looked at any one, no one ever opened up to her, she wasn't sure she liked it. "But nothing really did." Tatsuya shrugged and went back to dicing the last few pieces of fruit. "I joined up and got ordered around, severed enough time in the kitchen to get pretty good at making meals." He stood up with the finished fruit salad in his hands, turning around to smile at the princess. "And once I got pretty good at it I ended up serving even more time in the kitchen so I got even better. By the time I got my own ship I was a better cook than the cook." He chuckled light heartedly. "Where would you like to have dinner pri-Azula?"

Azula smirked; he'd almost forgotten their situation and called her princess. She wondered if he hadn't just done so to change the subject, or if he actually was careless enough to let his tongue slip. "Oh here's fine Tatsuya, I suppose I should get Mai and Ty Lee to join us." The princess nimbly hopped off her bed.

"Don't trouble yourself." Tatsuya laid some plates and the bowl of fruit salad out at the foot of Azula's bed. "I'll fetch them."

It didn't take him long. They were just across the hall and once Ty Lee heard that dinner was on she jumped up. Mai was been reading, and Ty Lee had been stretching. Truthfully Ty Lee had been bending Mai's ear about how perfect for each other Tatsuya and Azula were. She'd been ranting on about how Tatsu was submissive and always tried to be helpful, and Azula never liked being told what to do and always wanted someone to order around. Mai commented that they were opposites by that measure but that was her only input on the subject. They stopped their conversation when the Captain knocked.

The four sat through their rather meager meal with little conversation. Occasionally Ty Lee would say something and someone would reply but no one was really paying the gymnast much attention. Ty Lee wasn't even paying what she said much attention. She was too busy comparing the auras of the princess and Captain. It wasn't like she actually put much stock in seeing auras or fortune telling, it was just another way to distinguish herself, but looking at Azula even Ty Lee could distinguish a vibrant almost violent aura surrounding the young girl. It was more the kind she would have expected from the battle tested Captain, but his was mute calm, almost placid and rather pale. Not quite like Mai's, hers was dingy and grey, the Captain's was more… colorless and calm than dingy.

The gymnast girl surveyed her friends at they ate in silence. Mai calmly and coolly plucked up piece of the sliced fruit and popped them into her mouth then she chewed for a moment and grabbed another. Azula was stabbing the fruit bits with her chopsticks and then biting them off; Tatsuya had picked up four sets of sticks with the plates. Ty Lee just snagged bits and popped them into her mouth as she surveyed her friend, laying on her belly and kicking her feet back and forth behind her.

"Tatsuya I'd like to have my armor clean by tomorrow morning." Azula said absentmindedly, not even bothering to look the Captain in the eye as she addresses him. "Do you think you could handle that for me?" Her question wasn't really one of willingness, it asked more about competence, mostly just through the princess's habit of asking questions as such than anything else.

"Of course Azula… I'll have it clean by the time you wake up." The captain replied as equally absentminded as the princess had asked.

However in this simple conversation Ty Lee found something interesting. "Hey Tatsu?" She paused for the captain to look over at her. "Where are you going to sleep tonight?" This seemingly innocent question cause all present to pause in their eating.

"I guess he could stay in our room, we have a couch." Mai said before returning to her fruit bowl. As a rule Azula got her own room whenever their little band went anywhere.

Ty Lee flushed at this idea. "B-but Mai, h-he's a boy…" She almost whispered this to her Goth friend.

"Glad to see you have the basic genders down Ty Lee." Azula smirked a little, before continuing on her fruit salad. It was clearly the best idea, no sense in getting a third room for the captain just because he was male and they were female.

Tatsuya chuckled a little but put his chopsticks down as he'd finished all the fruit he'd dealt himself. "Oh there's no need for that. I'd been planning on sleeping in the hall, standing guard between the rooms."

"Oh… that's right, you like to sleep standing up don't you Tatsu." Ty Lee sounded much relieved and all appeared to find the captain's sleeping habits adorable by her tone.

Mai shrugged. "It's just as well. The locals don't seem too please with having Fire Nation tourists. Having an armed guard at our door couldn't hurt."

"I do hope the locals don't give us too much trouble, I'd like to make our way out tomorrow, and we still don't know where exactly we are, or where the nearest Fire Nation base is." Azula laid her chopsticks down across her now empty plate.

"Oh! The merchant guys mentioned a Fire Nation base somewhere around here." Ty Lee chose the moment while she dished herself the last of the fruit salad. While helpful it was not exactly useful.

"And they wouldn't happen to have mentioned precisely where it was, did they Ty Lee?" Azula used that, I'm annoyed but not going to get mad at you yet, tone as she addressed her gymnast friend.

"Hmm… No nuhuh not that I remember, how about you Mai you were there weren't you?" Ty Lee looked over at the dower girl completely un-phased by Azula's tone.

"They said it was to the Northeast." Mai sighed at Ty Lee's short attention span, honestly it wasn't like there'd been two separate conversations there'd been just one that she'd kind of tuned out halfway into. Not that that was particularly new for the gymnast, her listening skills had always been somewhat lacking, around anyone who wasn't Azula or 'cute' anyway but one would assume after so long she'd get used to listening to people.

"Right then." Azula smirked at her friends. "Tatsuya I'd like to head out toward the nearby camp by this time tomorrow. That should be possible shouldn't it?"

"That should be easy enough Azula." The captain smirked back at the princess and bowed his head gathering up the discarded plates, bowls, and ceramic chopsticks as he did so. He stood with the dishes in his hands and then glanced over to where Azula's armor was piled. "I'll wash your armor after I've done the dishes shall I?"

"That will be find Tatsuya." Azula waved a hand absentmindedly between where the captain stood and her armor rested. She honestly didn't care when he washed her armor. "So long as it's clean by the time I need to get dressed tomorrow."

The captain bowed his head again and gathered up the princess' armor under his pile of dishes. He bowed his head one last time as he exited Azula's room, armor and dishes in hand. He had to sort of balance the dishes precariously in order to hold them and Azula's armor separately while opening the door. Azula smirked a little; it wasn't like she would have minded if he got fruit juice on her armor, after all he was going to have to wash them anyway.

Ty Lee glanced at her friends once the captain had left. "He really is as cute as I think he is right?" She smiled at her friends not really looking for confirmation. Azula rolled her eyes and the three girls discussed the captain until she got bored and shoed the other two out so she could sleep.

It dawned on her as she slipped her hair out that she no longer had her robe to sleep in. Azula permitted herself to sigh and added a night robe to her mental list of things acquire from the market tomorrow. The princess decided to sleep merely in her oversized undershirt and quick removed her belt, letting her oversized pants slide off her legs into a lump at the side of her bed before slipping her bare legs in under the, admittedly soft blankets of the earth kingdom bed.

She laid her head down and took in a deep breath relaxing, not entirely as she was still very aware she was in an enemy town and was no not only wearing no armor, but no pants. She let her breath out and the torches around the room snuffed themselves out. Azula breathed in the darkness that fell around the room until the glowing crystals mounted about shimmered to life. She groaned a little be resigned herself to sleeping in the green twilight like light.


	12. Practice Makes Perfect

The Captain quickly scrubbed his recently purchases clean, doing the same with the princess's armor, before spending his evening patrolling the hall between the rooms. He eventually leaned himself up against the wall beside the princess's door and crossed his arms over his chest and snoozed lightly, propped up by his halberd and the wall.

Ty Lee attempted to get Mai to participate in a pillow fight, but after that failed quite spectacularly the two girls just settled in their own beds intent on sleep. Well Mai's intent was sleep, Ty Lee continued to giggle a little as she ran thoughts of the Captain and princess though her mind and kicked about under her covers.

The actions of the Fire Nation visitors did not go unnoticed. The local guards were still keeping careful watch on them. Even more so once the merchants began reporting tallies of missing fruit and stolen jewelry. They had no proof, but it was all too convenient for them to take sitting down. That night the guards met, and plotted. Well aware that Tatsuya guarded the girls in their sleep, but during the day, then he was about doing errands.

The next morning the princess awoke to the sounds of someone sneaking about in her room. The princess's eyes shot open, but she didn't even change her breathing enough to alert whomever it was foolish enough to sneak into her room while she rested. Azula scanned the room through her eyelashes. Whoever it was wasn't dumb enough to approach her from her front the princess had to give them that, but they definitely weren't adept sneakers, though earth benders rarely were. Azula could tell exactly where they were, and thus decided on the direct approach.

The princess tossed her sheets off and with a backhanded sweep sent a large plum of blue fire roaring across her bed and crashing into the intruder. He managed to defend himself but was still knocked to the ground and within a second Azula was positioned over above him, one hand pointed down toward him. The other raised back behind her head, ready to deliver the finishing blow to, a very dazed and confused Captain Shouhei.

Azula dropped her stance and glared at the Captain as he shook out his head and blinked away the stars. "Tatsuya… what are you doing in my room?" She crossed her arms over her chest and stared down at the dazed soldier.

He stumbled to his feet and folded his hands at his chest bowing to the princess. "I apologize for entering without permission, but I was attempting to leave your armor out for you." He gestured over to where most of Azula's armor rested at the side of her bed, the rest of it was splayed out across the floor between the bed and where they stood. "…That you might not have to find it before dressing today."

The princess suddenly became very aware that she was alone in her bedroom with the Captain, wearing nothing but an oversized shirt and her underwear. She nonchalantly brushed her hair back and crossed her arms over her chest, turning her profile toward the Captain. "Ah… I see." She rolled her bangs around in her fingers and noticed that she didn't have her hair up, she felt rather exposed, though she'd never let herself show it. "…Still despite your noble intentions you have no excuse for entering my room without my knowledge. You should have knocked, or left my armor at the door."

Tatsuya bowed again. "I apologize again; I simply did not want to disturb you."

Azula smirked. "Well I'd say you failed quite spectacularly at that Tatsuya." She turned her back to him and sauntered her way back to her bed.

He grinned a little and scratched the back of his head. "I suppose I did..." He corrected his posture and stood strait; walking after her just enough to gather the pieces of her armor he'd dropped when she fire blasted him. He set them with the others while the princess retrieved her hair clip from her nightstand. "I shall take my leave then? I apologize again." He bowed yet again and stepped toward the door.

"Just a moment Tatsuya." Azula held out a hand to halt him as she gather up her leggings and belt. She tossed them to the Captain. "I would appreciate it if you would have my garments washed while I take a bath." The princess sauntered toward the room's bathing chamber, enjoying the blush on the Captain's cheeks perhaps a little too much. "Hang around a moment and I'll give you the rest." She smirked a little more and the Captain blushed even more as she slipping into the bathing chamber.

The room itself wasn't actually much of a room, at least by royal standards. There were a pair of sinks to the left, elaborate but minimally functional with only one specked for lukewarm water. To the right there was a small water closet with a door for privacy. Past that and with one side against the right wall there was a large bathtub, with a pair of thin crystal doors, etched with visages similar to those on the bed in the other room. Azula snapped her fingers and lit the torches on either side of the sink just to get the thing to stop shimmering in that sickly green color. The tub itself was easily big enough to fit two 

people, the princess found that slightly amusing. The furthest wall was decorated with several mirrors cut into elaborate shapes with torches and crystal mountings sprinkled about.

Azula swung the door closed after her as she began undressing. She smirked as the pulled her shirt over her head, picturing the captain's reaction when she handed him her clothing from around the door. He tried to be such an innocent boy, but certainly that was just a ruse, after all he'd been aboard navy ships for most of his youth, surely he had some interesting tales told to him. She pondered what sort of stories one trades to a young sailor as she removed the last piece of her clothing, sliding her underwear over her athletic rear before stepping out of them.

The princess laid her clothes on the sink counter and stepped into the bath tub. She drew the doors closed and smirked a little. The thin crystals of the door obscured the view through enough to allot privacy, yet not enough to be deemed opaque. "Tatsuya, you may enter, my clothes are on the counter." Azula yelled, well hollered, she never truly yelled, but she made sure he could hear her.

She watched the Captain's silhouette through the crystal screen as he entered. A slight pause to determine where she was, another moment to mentally note that, then he turned and gathered he clothes, bowed to her. "I'll get these washed, and place them on your bed once they're clean."

"That will be fine." Azula pouted a little as the captain took his leave. She'd somewhat been hoping for at least a slight pause, or maybe stuttering to say something quickly, he'd hardly seemed taken aback at all…

The princess permitted herself a sigh and started the tub filling. It was lukewarm at best, but the moment it reached her it steamed angrily. She sat down in the back of the oversized tub leaned her back against the edge. She knitted her fingers together in front of her face and thought.

She'd never liked a boy before, and she wasn't really sure she knew how to. Surely it couldn't be that hard, after all Ty Lee had boys practically clamoring over each other anywhere she went, and no offence meant to the gymnast, she's a lovely girl, but she's not the brightest spark rock in the bunch. There had to be a simple effective way to get the Captain to reveal his feelings. If there was one thing the princess could be certain of it was that she wasn't going to let herself act without knowing what the Captain's reaction would be.

Though really, any boy would be more than lucky for her to approach them. After all, not only was she beautiful and regal, but she was a powerful bender, and the princess of the Fire Nation. Of course this also brought up certain complications. If her father found out that she was considering being attracted to a half breed Captain Tatsuya'd be lucky if he wound up captaining a scout ship in the arctic poles. More likely he'd wind up martyred by the war.

The princess rolled her head in the filling water, stretching her legs out and just sort of letting herself float, still keeping the water heated with the occasional deep breath. She stared up at the stone ceiling and turned the water off with her toes. She didn't like it; she didn't like it at all.

It was just that, romance, passion; all that lovey-dovey stuff was really more Ty Lee's field of expertise. Of course she couldn't ask the gymnast, she'd never hear the end it Ty Lee found out that the princess was actually considering feelings for a boy, any boy. Of course at this point Azula had seldom few alternatives. Ask Mai, which would on the one hand most certainly never get out, though the usefulness of any advise that might be acquired would be questionable; the only guy Mai'd ever gotten was Zuzu, if he could be called that.

Azula ran her fingers through her hair, brushing it out slightly as she lay in her steaming bath. It really shouldn't be that hard, if she just approached it from a logical stand point. He was boy, a low class soldier with everything to prove to his superiors. If she gave him a situation where he could stand out, possibly something that would let him show off superior talents of some sort. Then she could commend him for them publicly, while privately she could be keeping him around for her own reasons.

"Yes… that'll work fine…" The princess muttered to herself. It was a fine plan really; publicly he would be a hero, champion of whatever it was she had him end up doing, and Azula could keep him around as part of her elite team. No one, not even her father, would have reason to suspect otherwise.

Of course there was the minor problem of finding something fantastic for the Captain to do, but that would be of little consequence. Worst case she could just give him credit for defeating or capturing one of the Avatar's friends. Even if Ty Lee or Mai knew the truth, they seemed fond enough of the Captain not to reveal it, and if they weren't Azula knew of a few good ways to 'convince' them to stay quiet.

The princess nodded to herself and crossed her hands in front of her face. A deep breath and the water around her was vaporized, a thick cloud of steam billowing out from the shower. It dawned on Azula as she stood stark naked in the shower that the Captain had not yet returned with her clothes.

This posed a bit of a problem, as she literally had nothing to wear. She could always barrow something from Ty Lee or Mai, but their room was across the hall, and the princess was not streaking across an Earth Kingdom hotel hall naked. Though she couldn't simply remain in the bathroom until the Captain's return, there was no telling how long he would be gone…

Of course she could always practice. She hadn't really since she'd left the royal precession, though that was hardly though choice, what with the whole swamp monster fiasco and it's fall out. They were just now, several days later, getting their feet back on the ground.

"Hmm… perhaps a little training would be well advised." Azula thought to herself, crossing her arms behind her back and strolling out into the main bedchamber. She could have cared less that she nude, mostly because she knew not only that if anyone was watching they would be most please with what they saw, but that should anyone walk in on her, she could make certain her body was the last thing they saw, ever.

The princess stretched a little, walking out into the wide clear space between where the bed ended, and where the left wall began. She took a deep breath stretching her arms out over her head, and then quickly stepped down into her Bending stance. She struck her favorite stance, for the form she'd shown off to her grandfather just before his tragic death.

She rolled her weight through the form, taking care not to actually ignite the room with her flames. She'd long since perfected this form, but it remained her favorite, there were just so many fond memories tied to it, and some not so fond, but the princess didn't care to dwell on the past. It was so much more fun to plan the future.

Like how to make the Captain a hero. It really shouldn't be that difficult, the war made men into heroes almost daily. Well those that survived it, and of course the Tatsuya would have to survive whatever it was she had him do, though Azula assumed she would have his help in that.

The princess completed her form with the high kick and perfect landing. The ceiling sizzled a little where he blast had struck. Azula smirked and with a wave of her hand drew the heat off the sizzling rock and into the room, keeping it warm enough for her not to be dressed. She was getting slightly annoyed with how long it was taking Tatsuya. Of course it couldn't be easy, finding a place to wash a Fire Nation uniform in an Earth Kingdom town, though if he didn't return soon she would have to hurt him.

As if called by the princess's displeasure the Captain walked through her bedroom door right that moment, closing it silently behind and carrying her clothing, freshly washed and Fire Bent dry. He had a pleasant smirk on his face and was humming to himself quietly as he walked through the door. Then he opened his eyes and saw the princess, standing there, nude, with a lock of blue flames instinctively curled around her fingers.

He dropped to his knees, holding her folded garments up above his head as he pressed his forehead against the ground. "I-I apologize princess. I should have knocked. I-it was wrong of me to assume you'd still be in the bath… I apologize." He ground his forehead against the ground. "Please forgive me."

A playful smirk slipped its way onto Azula's face. She strolled over to stand in front of the humbled captain. She sorted through the garments he held up for her until she found her underwear. "Really Tatsuya, it's not like I have anything you haven't see before is it?" She slipped them on, deliberately toying with the Captain as she dressed.

Tatsuya remained bowed; he even appeared to have his eyes squeezed closed. "I-it's not proper…" He seemed almost hesitant, though he attempted to mask it. Azula could detect, just a twinge, a hint, a shadow of something that desired to look up.

The princess drew another of her piece of her attire from his hands. She tossed her oversized undershirt on, pulling it over her head and tugging on the sleeves just a little. She mused a little, wondering what it would have take to get the Captain to look up. "That's true enough Tatsu, though neither is it exactly proper for the daughters of noblemen to go wandering about in an enemy country with only a single guard as an escort." Azula smirked at the Captain's reaction. He tried to hide it, but doubt flashed across his face, as he opened his eyes for but a moment before squeezing them shut again. And it was enough for Azula that it was there, for now. "So I won't hold it against you."

"St-still, I am… nothing in compare…"

"Also true Tatsuya." She smirked and ceased her toying with the poor boy, drawing her leggings from his hands and slipping them on, following them with her wrist guards and then her robe. She got an idea as she carried her greaves over to the edge of the bed and sat to pull them on. "Tatsuya, would you mind?" She was dressed aside from her chest plate now, and held out her hair piece, it was always such a hassle to put it up by herself.

The Captain drew a deep breath and looked up. He seemed relieved, the question of what he had been expecting flashed through the princess's mind, but she quickly removed it as he stood, placing her chest plate on the foot of her bed and bowing as he walked over. "Not at all, Azula." It amused her a little how he paused before saying her name; he still wasn't used to calling her anything other than princess.

Azula stood, and the Captain stood behind her. She held up the needle and hair piece on either side, and he took then one in each hand. As Tatsuya nimbly gathered up the locks of her hair with either his fingers or the needle, Azula closed her eyes and let herself forget herself, just enough that she could imagine that this was not the first and likely the last time the Captain had been so close.

But Tatsuya's hands were quick and precise, and he soon had her hair back in its proper place. "Ah, that reminds me. I managed to locate something I thought you might want…" Azula turned to look at him, adjusting her hair just enough to make it seem he hadn't been as exact as he had. The Captain held out a small stone container, no bigger than the palm of his hand.

Azula smirked. "Rouge, how thoughtful of you Tatsuya." She took the thing and removed the clasp on lid. Inside was a thin blood red color.

Tatsuya scratched the back of his head. "I was unsure of what color you traditionally wore, and they had several shades of red. So I purchased the darkest, it believe they called it, Blood Ruby, or something along those lines."

"It will do fine, Tatsuya. Now if you'll excuse me I'd like to finish dressing in private." The princess close the lip rouge and set it on her nightstand. Truthfully she only had her chest plate let to put on, but she was growing untrusting of how the Captain's presence made her act.

"Of course." He bowed to her, hands in front of his chest, and headed for the door.

"Tell, Mai and Ty Lee that I'll be meeting them down stairs in a few moments. We'll 'peruse' the local's once more today, and then take our leave of this place." The Captain bowed to her once more and then left. It was clear that while she and the others were 'perusing,' she expecting him to stir up some more 'war funds' from the locals.


	13. Agni Kai

Within the hour Azula and her team were back on the streets, 'perusing' the local shops. This time however they were more careful with what they stole. Well Azula and Mai where, Ty Lee continued to steal anything she thought was shiny and/or pretty. The princess and Goth however were careful to steal things that would be useful. Azula would singe purse strings off and snatch the bag before it jingled enough to be noticed, while Mai used hidden blades to do effectively the same thing.

It was surprisingly easy to distract those they were stealing from. Azula might have been concerned had she not seen where their gaze landed, or felt their hands on her. She felt the desire to teach many of them the taste of fire. She did however restrain herself, content with the knowledge that she was removing the burden of their purses from them.

Though the princess did notice that the guards appeared to be lacking this morning, where yesterday they hadn't been let out of someone's sight, now it didn't appear that they were being kept under anyone's watch. Of course perhaps she was giving the Earth Kingdom guards too much credit to assume that they wouldn't fall for their ruse completely. After all, to them they were just a trio of foolish Fire Nation girls out looking for something occupy the time which they clearly had too much of, and their escort.

Though speaking of the Captain, Azula hadn't seen him since she'd had him leave her room. And while it wasn't like she was worried about him or anything, she did wonder where he was. Perhaps he had encountered the guard, and that had been what delayed him in cleaning her clothes. Or perhaps he was just keeping his distance from her due to her little…

Well either way it was nothing for Azula to concern herself with. More pressing was there need of a means of transportation. There was nothing wrong with walking, on its face. There was just something so, un-regal about it, and it was slow. If they walked it would be a couple of days before they reached the nearby Fire Nation encampment, where as if they somehow obtained a carriage it would likely only be a day's ride. Of course it would take more than robbing fools of their pocket change for a couple of days to purchase a carriage, and if they were going to spend more time in the town it would be better spent walking. Once they got to the encampment Azula could have them provide her with a means of travel.

The princess toyed with the idea of finding some traveling nobleman or merchant who didn't mind going to a Fire Nation encampment to take them. Three lovely girls could always find someone to take them where they were going; Azula knew that much of the world. Though whoever took them would likely 

have to be executed upon their arrival, and Azula didn't much care for the idea of seducing some stranger into giving them a ride. Sure Ty Lee could handle most of the seducing, Azula had never much thought of herself as a seductress, she'd always felt she was more of a temptress. Though that was only half of what forestalled the princess for that course of action. She was growing intolerant of the men in this town already, and spending a full day with one who might misunderstand what the ride entitled them to. Of course she could always have the Captain kill them if they got out of hand… She'd keep that in reserve encase she couldn't come up with anything better.

It was around that point when Azula became very aware that she and her friends were slowly being encircled by large burly looking men with pikes. She glanced over at her friends. "Mai, Ty Lee, we have company." The two girls looked up from a merchant's stand; the merchant retreated into the back, never a good sign. Azula turned to address the large Earth Bender whom had greeted them so flavorfully the other day. "Is there a problem sir?" She said with feigned innocents and a cavity inducing smile.

"Don't play innocent with us girly. We've been getting reports from all over town, every place you've been it seems the merchants have been losing stock. Now would you care to explain that?" He smirked a little and propped one of his sizable hammers over his shoulder.

Azula continued the innocent act. "Well we've been a lot of places. I don't remember seeing anyone stealing things, but we'll be sure to keep an eye out for a thief." She bowed a little, crossing her arms behind her back, secretly preparing to defend herself.

"Tsk, still playing dumb huh? Well I guess it's not that hard for you Fire Nation scum." Azula's brow twitched, scum? How dare he call her, the princess of the most powerful nation in the world, scum. "Well I'll talk a little slower for you. You, are, the, thieves." He chuckled a little and his gang laughed along.

Azula tensed her jaw a little, she would have ground her teeth at her inability to act, but she knew doing so would be playing into their hands. If only they didn't have such a significant advantage, if only she didn't have to maintain her innocent tourist girl façade. The three of them could easily take all of these brutes in a second, if only…

"What's going on here?" The princess smirked a little as the crowd of guards parted. It was Tatsuya, and as brash as these brutes were, the sight of a heavily armed soldier put an end to their mocking. Though 

Azula found herself less pleased as the Captain walked through the part the guards had made to stand between her and them. While it made sense for their escort to stand between them and a potential threat, from a battle standpoint it would have been better to have forces on both sides of the enemy lines.

"What's going on is that these girls are thieves!" Yelled out one of the less important looking guards, he quieted down quite nicely after a meaningful glare from both his superior and Tatsuya.

"Do you have any proof?" The Captain looked to the Earth Bender, who was clearly the leader of this little rabble.

"Proof? Yeah I've got proof, before you and your little harem here came into town we didn't have a problem with thievery, and now you've been here all of one day and we've gotten over a dozen reports of theft, missing fruit, cloths, coin purses, and jewelry." The bender took a step forward and got up into Tatsuya's face, he was taller than the Captain, but only because he was also several decades older. "And you know what everyone of them happens to remember? You're little friends here showing up and not buying a thing after spending a good amount of time looking."

The Captain didn't back down in the face of the larger bender. In fact he took a step forward and glared up at the older man. "I don't suppose you asked if there was anyone else they all saw who stuck out? And did it ever occur to you that perhaps my ladyships haven't purchased anything because they know your merchants neither sell anything of the quality they're accustomed to, nor charge anything resembling reasonable prices? It would seem that while you hate the Fire Nation, you're not too good to overcharge her people."

"You got something to say fire boy? Or are you going to let us take you all in for 'questioning?'" Azula didn't like the way the Earth Bender growled out 'questioning' and it was her impression that very little questioning would take place if these brutes were allowed to take her and her friends into their custody.

Tatsuya didn't appear to like the idea any better. "I might entertain the idea… If I thought that you had any valid reason whatsoever to take us in, other than your clear prejudice of course." He took a step back, but only to toss his head back in apparent disgust.

"Well then it would appear we're at an impasse, because we're going to be taking you and your little girlfriends in, even if we have to use force to do it." The Earth Bender looked back at his mob and chuckled, his lackeys laughed along in support.

"I would dare you to try." The Captain replied with such cold intent that the laughing was stopped dead. He curled a small orange flame about in the palm of his left hand, his right held his halberd over his shoulder as he glared out at the mob, shifting his feet a little to more readily drop into a fighting stance.

The Earth Bender smirked. "So you want to make a fight of it eh?" The bender and his mob encircled the four of them. Ty Lee and Mai prepared to defend themselves, but Azula remained perfectly calm, as she always did. Though now she remained calm because she could tell, Tatsuya had a plan.

"Really…" The Captain extinguished the flame in his palm and shifted out of his battle stance. "A battle between benders can get so… messy. And I would hate to see anything damage your fine town." His voice dripped with such malice that Azula would not have thought he could have managed had she not heard it herself.

The guard captain looked at his crew and stood up from his battle stance. "So, you're going to let us take you in then?" He put his hands on his hips each holding one of his sizable hammers.

"No," Tatsuya interrupted before the guard could continue. "at least not outright." He smirked a little. "You see, in the Fire Nation there is something we use to decide matters of honor, matters that cannot be decided any other way…" He turned to address the Earth Bender, relaxing a little as did the guard's mob. "An honor duel, an Agni Kai, held between two Fire Benders, they enter without armor or armaments. Nothing but their bending between the two of them and the victor claims authority."

The guard smirked. "Heh, you'd fight me without your fancy fork there?" He nodded toward Tatsuya's halberd. "Fine. When and where fire boy?"

The Captain ground his teeth a little. "Midday at the northern edge of town, can I trust you to prepare an even area for our duel."

"Hey I'm just shocked to see a Fire Bender willingly go one on one." He smirked a little tossing his shoulder back as his mob moved back behind him. "So I'll be expecting you there fire boy, and don't even think about skipping town, because we're going to keep an eye on you." He nodded to his boys and some of the scrawnier looking ones nodded back.

"Oh you needn't worry about us departing. I intend to see you ground in the earth as you so deserve." Again the Captain spoke with such rage, such wrath, that the princess dared herself a smirk, were she a cat, she might have almost purred as the malice the young boy managed.

The guard mob soon dispersed, most of them following their bender captain as he took his leave with a spat to the Captain's feet. Several of the lookouts remained around, broken off in their own cluster before they decided who was going to watch who and when and dispersed accordingly.

The Captain continued to grind his teeth a little before he took a deep calming breath and turned to address the princess. "I am sorry my lady." He took another deep breath. "I let my past get the better of me, I apologize."

Azula toyed with a lock of her hair. "You seem to be doing that a lot lately Tatsuya…" She smirked a little. "Regardless, now is hardly the time to discuss your actions. After your duel, and you will win, you're to meet me in my room where I will decide how best to punish you for acting without forethought."

Ty Lee was trembling a little. "Whoa… that was kinda scary…" She giggled a little. "I mean all those guys with pointy sticks pointed toward us, it was like we were super-fugitives or something." She quickly returned to her bubbly cheery state.

"I don't know, it wasn't that exciting…" Mai rolled her eyes a little. "After all, it's not like we were ever in any danger, not really anyway."

Azula glanced over at Mai, the Goth had perhaps said too much, at least while they were within ear shot of the guard's snitches. "Well, I suppose Tatsuya wouldn't have really let things get too dangerous." She glanced over at the Captain who nodded; this conversation would be just for those watching. "And though I can't say I approve of how you handled it, you did handle it, and for that we're appreciative."

"Yeah! Thanks oodles and bunches Tatsu." Ty Lee smiled and leaned over Azula's shoulder to beam at the Captain. "I just can't imagine why they'd think we were stealing things though." She feigned an overly articulated shrug.

"Yeah. I can't imagine why they would think we'd steal anything." Mai was a bit less into the acting, but perhaps more convincing. Of course it wasn't really that it mattered, if Tatsuya lost his duel than the Earth Bender would still be unarmed, and the rest of his mob would likely be gathered there in one place. The three of them could scythe through them in an instant, and if the Captain won then all the better. After all, what happened when he won had yet to be decided.

"But Tatsu, don't you think taking and Earth Bender on one on one is kinda dangerous?" Ty Lee glanced between her two friends as she looked up at the Captain. "I mean it's earth… isn't it kinda, I don't know, hard to smash?"

Azula crossed her arms in front of her chest, she'd already thought of the bending difference, so had Tatsuya. "While it is true earth is a more ridged element than fire, and this provides them with several advantages. Including a more solid defense, more forceful offence, and overall better strength in their acts."

"You make it sound like I don't have a prayer." The Captain smirked a little.

"Well you will have several advantages of your own. The sun at midday is at its highest, and you'll be at your most powerful, not only that but Earth Bending requires a great deal of force, much greater than Fire Bending, a drawn out battle will favor fire." Azula licked her teeth just a little; she could already picture the Captain burning apart his enemy's defense. This was going to be fun, for her at least, those actually fighting might not enjoy it as much, and that just made her smile even more.


	14. The Taste of Fire

Come midday Tatsuya marched to the edge of town, prepared to duel the Earth Bender, and followed by the girls. Well Mai and Ty Lee followed, Azula marched at his side. Mai carried with her the Captain's halberd, while Ty Lee carried, clutched really, his clothing. No weaponry, and no shielding, that was the agreement, and they were intent on honoring it.

The bender as his mob of would be soldiers were already gathered around what could have been considered a duelists arena, though it was little more than a rectangle pressed into the ground.

Tatsuya broke off from the girls, walking into one edge of the arena and crossing his arms. The Earth Bender had yet to disarm. Azula, Mai and Ty Lee walked around to watch from one side; far enough away that they wouldn't have to worry about debris, but close enough that they had a prime view.

"Heh, so you actually decided to show eh fire boy? What's with the shirtless act? I thought this was a no armor duel, not a beauty contest." Regardless of his brash words the large man did begin to disrobe, removing his belt and with it his hammers, tossing them back to his crew before doing the same with his wrist guards, greaves, plated hat, and chest plate, revealing he had been in more than a few battles, several with Fire Benders if one were to believe the burn scars.

"You are going to die." The Captain said with such a cold certainty that it scythed any humor out of the air with bitter precision, replacing it with a pale, almost dangerous calm. "You realize that right?"

Ty Lee bit back a squeak and took a step away from the dueling ground, still clutching the Captain's garments to her chest, mostly just to clutch something. The gymnast had never done particularly well with such dramatic situations, she much preferred their schooldays, or even the time they'd spent in the swamp, at least then it was certain no one was going get killed. Death was just, so, unpleasant, and the raging colors of these two's auras, it was painful to watch, and they hadn't even started fighting yet.

Mai couldn't have cared less about the two combatant's auras. She yawned a little fanning her mouth as she waited for the two men to get their head-butting over and done with so they could get on with their lives already.

Azula loved it. The tension in the air, the bloodlust was almost palatable. Both these men hated each other, for no other reason than their alignment. They simply hated each other because they were supposed to, and they were likely going to kill one another because of it. It was all so delicious.

"So, how do we start this thing fire boy? Just bow an' what not, or do we got to hear one of your repulsive anthems first?" The Earth Bender was disrobed, down to just his leggings as was Tatsuya.

"Traditionally we would kneel and then rise to turn and face one another, though if it's all the same to you I'd rather not turn my back to you." The Captain slid down into a battle stance. "So whenever you're ready."

The Earth Bender ground his teeth a little and jumped down into a fighting stance. He started fiercely, a stomp with his forward foot and a spinning kick from his back sent a trio of large stones sailing across the battle grounds toward Tatsuya.

The Captain sidestepped, almost dancing between the sailing rocks as they soared passed him to collide with the ground a handful of yards past him.

However the guard did not break his attack long enough for his opponent to retaliate. He stomped the ground with his back foot, and a half dozen small stones jumped up in volleys of two and four. A pair of quick jabs from each hand sent the first two soaring toward the opposing bender, followed by a duel fisted lunge forward to send the remaining four in hot pursuit.

The Captain reacted in kind. He crouched down, lowering himself near flat against the ground by extending his front leg, and allowing the first two stones to soar over his head. The third he smashed, rising up behind a backhanded swipe from his left hand, and before the others could reach him he curled his arm over in front his chest. A spiraling swirl of flames roared out from his forward arm and the following two stones burst apart upon contact while the final simply missed.

Azula perked up an inquisitive brow. She'd never seen Fire Bending used so defensively. Nor had she ever thought to bend from the lengths of her arms rather than her fists or feet. It was an interesting technique, but had limited value. The prospective range would be little beyond one's own body, and while the spiraling motion made for an excellent absorption of incoming attacks, the relative energy it 

must take seemed, almost overkill in the princess's mind. The effort would seem much better spent burning your opponent apart to her.

Tatsuya seemed to have grown tired of defense and dodging himself. He went on the offence with a redirection of his spiraling shield, lashing the orange flames out as a long curl toward the Earth Bender, though it was successfully blocked by the bender simply stomping to his side and causing a large blade of earth to spike out from the ground at his side. "Heh, it's going to take more than a few sparks to fell me boy." The Earth Bender shifted his weight and spun, striking the blade of earth with the back of his heel and sending it tearing a path toward the Captain.

The attack was ill fated from the beginning, and it was hard to believe even the attacker had intended it to strike. Such a thin object sent width wise had little change of contacting the target, particularly as poorly aimed as it had been.

The Captain stood strait, moving out of his battle stance, and clutched his fists so tightly his knuckles cracked. He took in a deep breath, and then dropped to a different stance. It was a stance Azula hadn't seen before, and after a moment she recognized why. It was an Earth Bending stance.

The actual Earth Bender recognized the stance in half the time it took the princess, and, almost out of spite, stomped the earth in front of him and sent a stone half the size of the Captain sailing toward him.

Tatsuya stood his ground and thrust out a fist just as the rock reached him. There was burst of flames and smoke and the stone was shattered apart, bit of sandstone scatting about in every direction. Azula smirked. The Captain was using an Earth Bender's stance to derive more powerful direct blows, clever, but ultimately useless in a real battle. A Fire Bender would be unable to manage the proper flow of energy they need to maintain long curls of flame from a ridged Earth Bending stance. The best they could do was, as the Captain had just shown, obliterate nearby objects with over powered and under-aimed assaults.

The Earth Bender didn't seem quite as amused at the princess. "Tsk, think you're pretty funny striking that stance, eh boy? Well let me show you how it should be done." He struck the same stance as Tatsuya, a simple basic stance, one of the primaries of the Earth Bending essentials.

It wasn't a half second since the brute had shifted stances to match the Captain when a half dozen rocks were sailing through the air, each appearing larger than the last.

Each met with the same fate, shattered apart by a twisting smoky burst of flames, a sweeping backhand to clear the first from his vision, then a series of well placed jabs to reduce the next to gravel, followed by a round house kick to shatter a stone the size of the Captain, all were repelled, and with each ground shaking explosion of earth and fire, the Earth Bender grew more enraged, less focused.

It was but a matter of time before an opening would present itself, and though the vicious assault of rock and stone never faltered neither did the Captain's earth shaking blasts. The two seemed dead locked, and for a moment, just a moment be assured, a fraction of one really, Azula felt a twinge of concern. Should the Captain tire first... It was a dangerous game he was playing, challenging an Earth Bender's with an Earth Bending form.

The stalemate raged on. The rhythmic launching and subsequent shattering of hunks of earth or stone beat the air like a drum. The spectators were given cause to move back as chunks of rock smoldered their way on occasion, particularly after large stone strikes were blast apart. Azula remained where she was, an expectant smirk on her face.

Then Tatsuya broke form. Ducking under and dodging around the flurry of stones, almost dancing across the battle ground as he twisted between the Earth Bender's assaults. Azula's eye followed him, tracking his movements between the flying rocks, he was closing in on the Earth Bender, and beyond his first few steps he had shifted out of the Earth Bending stance and back into the traditional Fire Bending one. He was moving in for the kill, she could feel it.

And so could the unfortunate Earth Bender. His strikes grew more desperate, favoring large forceful stones over small precise ones, and it was because of this that Tatsuya continued to evade each and every one of his assaults. The Captain kept his arms close, to limit his width, and moved more like a gull-crab than a person, never really moving forward, but twisting his body about to keep his sides facing his opponent while taking quick steps in one direction or another to evade the incoming stones.

Then with one quick kick, the tide changed. The Captain rolled into a leap and landed with a fiery crash. The flames scorched the earth and roared toward the Earth Bender, only to crash against a large stone shard summoned in self-defense.

Though Tatsuya did not let his advantage pass. He struck again, lashing a plum of orange flames out from a roundhouse kick to splash against the bender's shield. Again the Captain struck unsuccessfully, the stone barrier held fast, propped up by its weary summoner.

The Captain danced to one side, launching a furious storm of fire against the barrier's edge, forcing a second shield to be raised. Then again Tatsuya struck at the barrier's outer edge, this time rolling a flurry of flames around his back and over his shoulders before crashing it against the opposite side from which he had struck the moment before. And again the Earth Bender defended himself with a stone wall.

To the novice's eyes it would have appeared the Captain was losing. Every attack he tried crashed helplessly against a stone wall. The guard's mob looked on the verge of cheering, but Azula knew better. Tatsuya was trapping the Earth Bender within his own defenses. It was an inspired plan, and privately, Azula approved.

Though the Captain lost her approval with his next move, he struck into the air and launched a serpentine length of flames out from his arms. He arched it over the Earth Bender's head and then brought it crashing back toward the both of them, but the bender defended himself, sealing off his exposed back with a larger extension of stone, pressing one palm against his front and the other against the flat of the rear guard. Azula glared, if Tatsuya had simple circled his enemy he would have had a clear shot, instead he exposed the enemy's weakness and now the only vulnerable points were the thin slips between the front and back stonewalls.

It was then when the Captain turned truly fierce, at least compared to Azula's picture of the pacifist boy who joined the war simply because he must. Tatsuya slung his arm back and charged the guard, trailing a raging extension of fire back behind him before cracking it against the Earth Bender's forward barrier. The flames raged out licking around the rock as their master continued to push forward, dashing around the stone barrier till he could spy though the thin gap between.

The Earth Bender had no defense now, he was too confined within his own walls to move, and now the Captain had a clear shot at him. Azula smirked, and Tatsuya struck his right foot back and then threw his body into his strike. Rage-full orange flames roared from the boy's fist, and tore through the air striking through the gap in the barriers.

The stonewalls burst apart. Not because of Tatsuya's strike, but because the bender within them had panicked and tossed them away in an attempt to escape. He landed with a bone cracking crash, near two feet from where the Captain stood. His left arm was burnt and bloody, the smell of roasted flesh rolled off the battle ground alongside painful growls. With his good arm the bender shoved the air toward Tatsuya, in fact using his bending to shift the earth under him and push him back from the Captain another half dozen feet.

Tatsuya stood back, leaving his stance, it was clear to everyone the battle was over, the Earth Bender hadn't landed a blow with two arms, and from the looks of it, it was doubtful he would ever use his left again. Yet still the Captain struck his hand back, and conjured a vicious tendril of orange flames. It curled back from his hand, its tail waving about in the breeze some ten feet from its master.

Tatsuya began to stride forward. The air about him wasn't the same; it was no long the calm smiling air so familiar to the Captain. This was grim, no smile graced Tatsuya's lips, they were locked in a forbidding almost growling glare. Azula leaned forward; Ty Lee retreated behind the Captain's shirt a little.

"L-look, you win ok! We'll leave you and your friends alone!" The Earth Bender pleaded, attempting to struggle to his feet, though without the use of his right arm he was unable to manage it.

"I told you didn't I…?" The Captain's voice was not his own. Something, primal, controlled it and as such it was not so much carried through the breeze, as the winds parted for fear of it. "You were going to die?" His voice shook, not of uncertainty or through fear, but out of restraint. He was in control despite the raging fury that boiled within him.

The Earth Bender panicked, he glanced to his mob for help. His friends were slowly backing away from the dueling grounds. He glanced back up at the Captain. Tatsuya was standing over him now, his body almost visibly trembling with his breath, the flames in his hand twitched and roared almost appearing out of control. The Captain glanced over to Azula.

The princess smirked, back at him. There was something new behind Tatsuya's auburn eyes. They pleaded with her, begging her to let him kill the man in front of him. Even over flowing with rage, he was a soldier first. Azula licked the back of her teeth and nodded.

Both combatants knew what that meant. The Earth Bender threw up his good hand causing a burst of dust from just below the Captain's feet, though it was in vain. Tatsuya brought the raging fire in his hand crashing down.

There was a blood wrenching howl as the flames seared through the man's flesh in an instant, and the air became filled with the scent of roasting flesh. Tatsuya stood back from the burning body that had once been his opponent, staring at it for a second before shooting a deadly glance to the guard mob. They were scrambling over each other to flee before the Captain's fire found its way to their hides.

Azula felt something leap to her chest. Her heart was being fast, and she couldn't remove her eyes from the form of the Captain. He commanded everything she wanted. Power and voracity, fury and fear, dominion and domination, with temperance and control, and it was in that moment. When, he personified everything Azula desired for herself, that she decided, Captain Tatsuya Shouhei, would be hers as well.

The princess leaned back to the trembling gymnast at her side. "Perhaps you were right Ty Lee, I do seem to feel a certain… attraction for the Captain." Azula allowed herself to chuckle a little. Her quite snickering the only sound other than the slow roar of the Earth Bender's burning body.


	15. Belonging

Azula sat on the edge of her bed brushing out her hair. She'd removed her armor and wore now just her loose under clothes, held in place by her belt and wrist guards. There was really no point in staying armed anymore, it was uncomfortable and in the few hours since Tatsuya had incinerated the guard captain it had almost become as if they'd occupied the town. None of the other guards dared ever to make contact with them, and the townsfolk did whatever they told them to.

The Captain had yet to report back to her, but she assumed, correctly, he was busy. There had been a number of things to 'acquire' from the locals before they could depart, and she had been the one who'd wanted to leave today.

Truthfully Azula didn't mind. Though she'd never admit it upon pain of death, and you couldn't tell if tried, she was a little nervous. Seducing men had never really been her cup of tea, nor had she ever been particularly fond of tea. Ty Lee was the one who always had men crawling over each other to get near her, and she'd been rendered nearly useless by the shirtless state of the Captain. Of course the princess had admired the view herself, but you wouldn't have known if she told you.

The problem was she couldn't get that image out of her head. Tatsuya, standing flame in hand, about to strike down and finish his enemy, looking at her, murder in his eyes, silently begging her to let him kill, pleading with her to let him murder, beseeching her to let him finish the man before him. Even now it sent her heart to her throat and she had to concentrate to control the thing.

Now she couldn't allow herself to lose control, not if she wanted to make Tatsuya hers. She took some comfort in the fact that she didn't truthfully need to seduce him, if need be she was still his commanding officer, but the truthfully didn't want to take him. She wanted him to offer himself to her, to be hers entirely, heart, mind, soul, and body.

But how to obtain that, Ty Lee traditionally had boy practically begging for her to take their hearts and bodies, but the Captain had shown little, if any, interest in her giggling antics, and if the gymnast were to be believed, he only had eyes for Azula. Now while Ty Lee was generally a fairly good judge of character, be it because of auras or chakras or whatever, the princess couldn't help but second guess her assessment of the Captain. No boy had ever liked her for any other reason than if they married her they would become the next Fire Lord, and Tatsuya had no chance of that ever happening. He wasn't full blooded Fire Nation, and by his own admission had never even been to the homeland.

Why would someone like that have any interest in her? Though she was beautiful, there was little chance of denying that, and it was doubtful there was another girl her age half as powerful as her; these weren't generally things that boys took into account. While her beauty would be enough to interest them once they noticed her power they either attempted to control her, or ran for the hills, both generally resulted in her igniting part of their clothing.

But Tatsuya had already shown his willingness to be controlled by her. Even during his Agni Kai, his duel, his battle, he had turned to her for Permission to deal the death blow. It was hard to conceive being much more subservient than that, at least in Azula's mind. He was perfect, powerful, wrathful, obedient, intelligent, and vicious. It was too bad he wasn't a noble, had he only been the child of a war hero, then perhaps her father wouldn't mind.

Either way it was of no consequence, while Azula wasn't in the habit of going against her father, what people didn't know wouldn't hurt him, or their family's reputation.

There was a knock at her door, she knew it was the Captain, Ty Lee always knocked in some odd pattern, and Mai only knock once. "The door is open Captain." They'd given up their little rouse shortly after the guards stopped trying to guard things from them.

Tatsuya stepped around the door closing it quietly behind him as the princess slowly brushed out her hair. He still wasn't wearing his shirt, but now held it in one hand as he bowed to her. "You, wanted to see me princess?"

Azula put down her hairbrush. "Yes, Captain, I wanted to talk to you about your little outburst today." The princess stood up and began slowly circling the boy like a vulture, her hands neatly folded behind her back. "While I can understand your reasons, it was dangerous and reckless. You put or entire mission in danger simply because you couldn't control yourself."

"I know… and I apologize, princess…" He bowed his head, turning to face her, as she paused in her circling. "Though if I may explain my actions… That man had it coming…" He growled a little and Azula was reminded of the vicious nature that lay beneath his submissive skin.

"That may be so, but despite how much we might want to, we can't go around incinerating ever jerk we come across." Azula smirked a little and returned to walking a circle around the Captain.

"I know… it was merely that…" Tatsuya took a deep breath and visible calmed himself. "That guard got to me… I won't let it happen again, I apologize, princess." He rose and turned to leave.

But Azula stepped between him and the door. "Captain…" She looked at him in what she hopped appeared to be concern. "Tell me everything." She tried for compassion, but it came out sounding more commanding.

The Captain took a deep breath and sat down right where he had been standing. His legs folded under him he stared at the ground as Azula circled him one last time before she sat on the edge of her bed, her arms crossed over her chest as she watched him. She could tell she was rousting unpleasant memories, but it was high time the Captain explained himself.

"It wasn't something he did… it was something he said… a name he called me…" Tatsuya seemed almost hesitant, not of revealing his past to Azula, but more of, speaking about it aloud.

Azula perked up a brow; she tried to remember what the late guard captain had called Tatsuya. "Fire Boy?" That was what it had been hadn't it? She assumed so from the captain's reaction, he grit his teeth and growled a little.

"Yeah… That was it." He was breathing a little harder, an old rage fire rekindling within him. "Back in the colony that was what the other kids would call me."

"Well, it's hardly an original name; after all, you are a boy, from the Fire Nation."

"That's just it. I'm not from the Fire Nation… I'm not from the Earth Kingdom. I'm from… some place in between." He turned his head, unable to be looked at by Azula, at least in his mind.

Azula was reminded of the other times they'd discussed his origins. He'd never seemed to think of himself in, to put it lightly, a positive light. Somewhere in the back of her mind, or the bottom of her heart, she hoped she was about to find out why.

"Back in the colony, the other children would call me that, and then beat the living daylights out of me, some of them my age, most of them twice as old." There wasn't anything, regretful, or mournful in his voice, and somehow, that made the words twice as real. "It, was never that they really, hated me, or at least it never felt like that…"

Azula wondered slightly how being beating to a pulp couldn't feel like those doing the beating hated you, but allowed the Captain to continue uninterrupted. "Some of them were Earth Benders… and some of the attacks were pretty bad…" He held out one arm and clutched his ribs on his right side. "I think I probably broke half my rib cage before I was ten." He chuckled a little.

"Captain…" Azula wondered if it was really something to laugh at. "May I?" But she was more curious about the true extent of his battle scars, they couldn't be that bad. They'd been just children after all. She gestured to the bed next to her and slid back a little. He nodded and stood up, moving over to side on the bed almost in front of her. He held his arms out to either side and sighed, still handing his head a little.

Azula laid her hands on his back and he began again. "I would, try to defend myself, and sometimes I almost got away." Azula passed her hands over the broad extensions of bone that were his shoulder blades, his right one had been cracked in two places, long since healed. "But… every time I fought back, they'd just show up with more next time." She slid her hands around under his arms, he'd been right. She felt at least three knotted pieces of bone, where his ribs had been broken and healed over.

"What about your mother...? Surely she must have objected, or at least said something." There were another two possibly four on his left side. Azula could hardly imagine a mother who would allow their child to be bloody like this, sure she'd never been on good terms with her own, but she'd always felt she was still her mother.

The Captain smirked. "Heh, my mother…" He drew a deep breath; Azula could feel his rising chest press against her hands. "My mother…" He sighed. "I only ever… truly, saw her smile, when I came home bloody and beaten." He smirked a little more, how could that have been a pleasant memory? "She'd smile at me and say, 'well, let's get you cleaned up' like I'd fallen in a mud puddle or something… I think she must have been a nurse… she always knew how to put me back together. Set my bones, bind my wounds. Heh, I think it was the most time I ever spend with her was when she was 'getting me cleaned up.'"

Azula brought her hands back around to his back. She slid them up across his tensed muscles and out over his strong outstretched arms. She for once, had little to say. Her own mother had thought she was a monster, but she'd always tried to be a mother despite. "You said some of the ones who beat you were Earth Benders, what that how you learned that form?" The princess was somewhat wary of the subject of mothers, and was eager to leave it behind.

The Captain smirked half heartedly. "Yeah, get beaten by rocks enough times and eventually you pick up a few things from those doing the beating…" He took one of his arms from her and glared down at his fist. "They were just novices… all those with any real Earth Bending talent were carried off to prisons, or put to work in the coal mines." He clenched his fist tight. "Things got a little better once I discovered my bending. But at the same time they got worse…" He dropped his arms to his sides.

Azula leaned around him a little, one hand resting on each of the Captain's arms. She could feel just the slight shadow of a pair of scars, resting in the nook of his right arm, one under the other. "Captain…" She knew she should say something, something deep and meaningful, something that would win her his affections forever. She just couldn't think of anything.

"The thing is…" Tatsuya smiled. "They stopped… I guess they didn't want to fight, if I could fight back." He chuckled a little. "Go figure."

Azula knew she'd missed her chance, and she was cursing herself for it. Though the Captain was still bearing his soul to her, she might get another… "You said it yourself, people tend to think twice about messing with someone who can sling fire."

"Heh, yeah," He smirked, turning his head to look back at her a little "I guess that's what it was… It's just that… I traded without knowing it… The other children backed off… but, from the moment my mother learned I was a Fire Bender… she never looked at me." Tatsuya sighed deeply, remembering things long since pasted, reopening wounds never truly healed. "Not directly anyway… I think my father had been a 

bender… and while my mother, was never." He paused, trying to find the right words. "The highest functioning woman… She always tried to be my mother… until I became a bender."

Again Azula could feel her chance to say something to win her the Captain's affection, and again she couldn't think of anything remotely meaningful to say, and all she could think of is to curse Lo and Li for always making it look so easy. "At least you have the Fire Navy, I'm certain they respect what a unique bending style you possess…"

The Captain smiled, and for a moment Azula felt like she may have actually gotten the hang of the whole, being confided in, thing. "The Navy… once a year, for as long as I could remember recruitment officers would come to our town and try to get anyone they could to join. Not very many joined, the sons of colonists, mostly, probably just because there wasn't much else to do if you were going to make a life in the Earth Kingdom… From the day I discovered my bending, from the day my mother stopped looking at me… Every day they were in town, I would run down to them and ask 'can I join' I would show off whatever new Fire Bending move I'd learned 'look what I can do, please, let me join.'" He smirked fondly remembering his younger self's admiration for the Fire Navy. "And every year they'd tell me I was too young, and tell me to come back when I was older…"

He hung his head a little and Azula felt his body temperature jump, rage was returning to his veins. "And every year after they left me there…" He was growling a little flames flicking between his teeth. "The other children would rally together, calling themselves the 'Fire Fighters.' They'd get everyone they could, Earth Benders or just twice my size; it didn't matter to them, anyone who wanted to would find me down by the shore, where the recruitment officers would have been. And they'd beat the holy hell out of me…" Tatsuya grit his teeth, and growled out a plum of vibrant orange flames. "And Every Year, I'd fight them. It didn't matter if there was a dozen of them or a hundred, I fought. Got a few of 'em good every once in a while too." A smile graced the captain's lips, though it appeared like it would have been more at home upon Azula's.

"You fought for your country, a noble cause." Azula almost whispered in his ear, she was no longer attempting compassion. She'd learned enough, now she knew how to control the Captain. He was broken, and she knew how to fix him.

"I fought for my life." He stood up taking a few steps away from where the princess sat. "And it never made any difference. For each one of them I injured, they came back with double the fury the next day… There was no way I could win… only survive."

"So you did. And you joined the Fire Navy." Azula leaned to one side, watching him carefully, studying him. She appeared more like a predator, than a confidant.

"And even there people hated me!" He turned, lashing a curl of fire between him and the princess. Not deliberately, he was like her brother, too much fury, and no place to aim it.

"Well you can hardly blame them." Azula calmly toyed with a lock of her hair. "You were half Earth Kingdom, and very well could have become a spy against them."

"But I wasn't!" He turned to face her fully, anger flickered in his eyes, but not anger at her. He was angry at the past. He was furious with it, for being so immutable. "I was just a kid. I was just trying to find some place to belong. I was hated at home, and I was hated there. The other benders, they were warrior's children. Their fathers had taught them how to bend since they'd discovered it. I knew more about Earth Bending than I did Fire!" Tatsuya stormed about, practically clawing at the walls of the room. "And they hated me for that too."

Azula smirked, she could sense something, there was a violent ending to this story, and she wanted to hear it. "But you showed them, you never backed down."

The Captain smiled, again one akin to Azula. "Yeah. I took what I'd been given. I took my rage, I took my, 'unfocused and petty displays,' and I became such that not a one of them, not even the instructor, could best me one on one."

"And they hated you for that too." Azula stood, pressing him harder.

"Yes!" The Captain stormed toward her, he was almost close enough to forget himself. "They hated me for it, and they wanted me to die. They put on the front line of battle after battle. They fit me against Earth Bender after Earth Bender. And I killed each of them. Never showing them the mercy I'd dissevered but never received, and none of them, not one of them cared. I could slaughter a thousand Earth Benders and it'd never make up for the fact that I shared blood with all of them." He was furious, 

Azula could feel the heat rolling off his body, and she could smell the hatred in his blood. "You know what they called me?"

"What?" She tilted her head to one side quizzically.

"Ash." He said the word like it was poison on his lips, practically spitting it at her. "Half Fire, Half Earth, and completely worthless." Tatsuya stormed a few steps away from the Princess, leaning himself against the wall, pressing his head against it so he didn't have to face her. He was exhausted, simply from the fury he'd recalled. "And then one day…" He was calmer now, no longer filled with such violent hatred. "A general, some child who'd never been in a real battle before, born into leadership, was to command my platoon. And I accidentally sat on his rhino." The Captain shook his head. "Not like all the rhinos weren't the same…" He was almost smiling at how stupid the whole thing was. "So he challenged me to an Agni Kai, saying I'd disrespected his authority. Now he was a few years older than me, but he reeked of immaturity. He'd been handed everything in life, and was expecting me to just back down and let him win."

"But you didn't?" Azula already knew the answer, it had been in his file, but she also knew of the type of person he spoke of. She'd often been accused of belonging to their class, but she shared the Captain's hatred of them. They were boorish boys, children of war heroes or descendants of military leaders, raised to expect anyone in uniform to bow to them. She recalled one in particularly; whom she'd had the miss fortune of dealing with. He'd carried himself with that proud bravado, like he'd earned her respect just by being there. He'd treated her like some gaggling school girl, flocking around him for his air of rule. She'd set him on fire, and watched him squirm.

"No… I didn't." A devilish smirk returned to the Captain's face, he enjoyed the memory of this fight. "Everything he sent at me, I returned in kind. No matter what fancy Fire Bending move he pulled. I remained standing. I don't think he'd ever really fought someone before. The look on his face, when I burned through his defense, when I stood over him, wanting, in every fiber of my being, to finish him, was utterly delicious… But the boy complained, and his father had some pull with the military. I got my 'promotion' and The Chained Phoenix, and it's less than thrilled crew… And you know what the first thing I did with it was?"

Azula perked up an eyebrow, she was actually curious, what would a boy, with all this misfortune turned to fury, do, if left to his own devices. "What? What did you do?" She smiled and narrowed her eyes.

"I went home. I forged my halberd. I found the 'Fire Fighters,' and I christened my blade, with the blood of each and every one of them. I drove my blade into their hearts, and I hacked apart their bodies…" The Captain was almost trembling, smiling with the sweet nectar of vengeance on his lips. "And I loved every minute of it."

Azula smiled, he murdered. "As you should have, Captain Shouhei." She smirked, sitting back down on the edge of her bed as Tatsuya struggled to catch his breath.

His features calmed, his muscles relaxed. His mind returned to the present, leaving the past behind, leaving it dead and buried as he'd left it. "But even then I didn't find what I wanted." He half turned to look at her, but didn't. He raised his hands staring at his palms as he opened and closed them slightly. "What I'd been looking for…"

Azula smirked, he was turning to her, needing her, and she could feel it. "And what was that?"

"I… I don't, know…" He turned to look her in the eyes, his were long, drawn back, tired. Hers were steady, clear, controlled. "I… I thought I'd been looking for a place to belong. Somewhere I could be with people like me… But… I'm never going to find that place…" He only half sounded remorseful about this, like it had been his desire for so long, he was hesitant to let it go, even in the face of something better. "But… I think I've found, what I was supposed to be looking for. Not a place to belong, not somewhere I can be with others like myself... but someone to belong to, someone, to dedicate my life to. You." He fell to his knees, never breaking his gaze at the princess. He was tired of standing on his own, tired of having everyone hate him, and to have nothing to show for it.

Azula smiled, she held out one of her hands, just stretching it out for him to take. He crawled over to her, unable to find the strength to stand, and laid his head against her outstretched palm. She laid her hand on his head, and began gently stroking his hair. "Sweet boy… Broken boy… don't worry, I can fix you." She slid her hand down under his chin, and raised him up to look her in the eye again. She pulled him up to her, guiding his lips to hers, and kissed him, softly, calmly. He closed his eyes and submitted, he was hers, heart, mind, body, and soul.

* * *

Author's Note- For the 18+ version of the chapter please visit http : / cartoon. adultfanfiction .net /story.php?no600090915 minus the spaces, turns out FF .net doesn't like me linking inside stories. I'm sure they have their reasons though.


	16. Warmth

Azula's eyes fluttered open. She wore a self satisfied smile as the events of the previous night returned to her mind and rolled over in her bed. Her smile removed itself as quickly as it had appeared; the princess frowned and ground her teeth a little. Her bed was vacant, aside from herself, and her blood was quickly rising to a boil. If Tatsuya thought he could just…

Azula smirked, and her fury vanished. The Captain was leaning, dressed to some extent, against the back of her door. His arms crossed over his chest as he snoozed lightly. The princess sat up, drawing her bed sheets up to cover herself. Apparently Tatsu truly did sleep best standing. That would be something they'd have to change.

"Ahem." The princess coughed into her wrist and the boy's eyes flashed open.

Tatsuya leaned off the door and uncrosses his arms. "Uhm, Good morning… Princess." He bowed to her a little, Azula smirked, he didn't know how to behave, whether to be her servant, or lover and she found his discomfiture adorable.

Azula permitted herself to yawn; fanning her mouth a little before stretching her arms out over her head, deliberately letting the sheet slid down and reveal her chest. He'd seen it last night, but she was curious to see how he would react.

Apparently not, the Captain flushed and turned his head out of respect; though it was clear he remained hers, he was simply doing what he thought proper. She could tell he wanted to say something, though she could only imagine what it might be. "You seem troubled Captain." She said with a smirk, stretching her arms out before restoring the blanket, for his comfort mostly. Though she had been raised to be a lady of the court, or at least they had tried to raise her that way, some lessons had taken better than others.

"I apologize, princess; it's merely that… I… l-last night…" He stuttered a little.

Azula smirked. "What about it?" She glanced at her nails. "It was…" She rolled her fingers about in front of her, searching for the proper words to express exactly what it was that had occurred last night. "…the insignificant coupling of a juvenile subaltern and his admittedly erstwhile tensed commanding officer." She smiled at the confusion that splayed across Tatsuya's face, and even as she slid out from under the 

covers of the sheets and strode, completely unclad, toward the room's bathing chamber, stretching herself out a little as she walked. "Hmm… I think I'll have a bath." She stood in the doorway and glanced back at the still confused Captain. "Come join me Tatsu." Now perhaps Azula enjoyed the utter confusion that covered the boy's face a little too much, but he was hers to do with what she wanted after all.

Tatsuya blinked away his confusion, or at least stopped trying to figure out what she had actually said just then, and folded his arms behind him loyally following his princess into the bathing chamber, with a content smile on his face.

Azula was knelt at the baths edge, attempting to turn the bathwater on without being in the bath to get wet. Tatsuya smirked a little. "Please, allow me princess." It seemed he was more comfortable while he was being useful. Azula assumed it was because he'd never been served and had always served. No doubt it also aided him in keeping his mind off her bare body. The princess stood back and allowed the boy to start lukewarm water flowing into the stone tub.

Azula, for no particular reason other than her simple desire to, leaned herself against the captain's back as he stood between her and the filling tub. She rested her head on the expanse of his armored shoulders and smiled, tucking her arms between her chest and his back. Tatsuya stood there for a moment, before glancing back over his shoulder and softly smiling at her. "Do try to keep anyone from finding out about us Captain." Azula almost purred, nuzzling lightly into the boy's back. "I would much rather not have to see you executed."

He smirked a bit. "I've managed to avoid death thus far Princess." She leaned off him and he turned around grinned down at her. He lightly laid his palms upon her shoulders. "I think I can manage a few more years at least." He tilted his head to one side, smiling warmly down at the Fire Princess.

Azula smirked, and after brushing his hands off her she pinched a hold on his short goatee pulling his lips down to where she could kiss them. She licked them as she pulled back releasing him that he might correct his posture. She had pulled him down into an awkward position. "So Captain," The princess smirked, rolling a lock of hair around her fingers. "Care to join me for a bath?" She tilted her head to one side and almost smiled at him.

She didn't know why she enjoyed the Captain's company so much, perhaps it was her attraction for him or his attraction for her, or maybe it was the feeling of her will totally and completely dominating another's. Whichever it was, Azula liked it, and the Captain was in not in a position to refuse.

"Of course I would Princess." Tatsuya nodded slightly. He smiled and reached a hand up to his collar, quietly and quickly unclasping the armor locks there as he began to disrobe. The princess leaned back against the sink counter, half pretending to be more interested in her nails than the boy stripping down a few feet from her. Despite the fact that she knew he belonged to her in every way, it was her noble dignity that forbid her from watching him strip.

The Captain reverently removed his armor, it dawned on Azula that since he had not come to her room wearing it last night, he would have had to retrieve it sometime that evening. She found the simple fact that he would leave her bedside vaguely annoying, but also noted with muted interested how carefully the boy removed and laid out his guards. He was almost, precise, in everyone of his action, both in removing his shielding, and laying it in its proper place beside the wall. Each individual piece of armor found its own place beside the others. The princess perked a brow, recalling the boy's tale of woe. Perhaps, despite his deep hatred for all peoples; he still wore the Fire Navy uniform with great respect.

Azula tilted her head and smiled gently at the now nude captain. Slowly strolling over to him she laid her hands gently over the back his bare shoulders, careful not to nick him with her nails, tracing the scratches she'd given him last night, making him jump a little before she pushed open the green shimmering crystal shower door.

The princess glanced back at her pet boy. "Be a dear would you, Tatsu?" She rolled her fingers toward the tub of luck warm water.

"Of course princess" He nodded and took a step into the tub, the lukewarm water splashing at his ankles. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, crossing his hands in front of his chest. He released his breath and in the same moment the water at his feet released a large cloud of steam.

He moved to remove himself from her bath. Why Azula would've like to guess, but at the moment she had other things on her mind. She smirked and stepped into the bath blocking her boy's exit in the same motion. The princess curled a hand up against Tatsuya's chest. He blinked down at her clearly confused. Azula smirked. "Where do you think you're going?" She purred.

He tilted his head down at her, smiling warmly. "Nowhere, princess." He leaned down to her, pausing a half inch from her lips. The princess smirked and kissed him lightly. The Captain tossed the crystal screens closed, and Azula swung him around her. There was just something about how Tatsuya behaved around her, it put the princess at ease, it let her behave… differently.

"You know captain…" She smirked a little, a pair of her fingers resting on Tatsuya's chin. "I've always enjoyed bathing by myself…" Azula turned a little pinching the Captain's goatee in order to pull him down to lay out in the bath under her. She smiled and slid down to lay her head against his chest. "Though I do believe that I might be, persuaded, to share." The princess smirked a little curling up against Tatsuya's chest, as she let the steaming waters of the bath simply roll around them, privately noting that a two person bathtub wasn't as idiotic an idea as it had first seemed.

The Captain curled an arm tentatively around her. She found it slightly… comforting, to have her boy's arm wrapped around her. It was something that Azula had never truly had, for a moment she didn't quite know how to feel, but the privacy the two shared at the moment allowed her some ability to block out the outside world. She took a deep breath and relaxed. Comfortable, content, surprisingly calm, princess Azula actually cuddled with her boy, Tatsuya Shouhei.

It dawned on her shortly after she realized how content she was that it couldn't last. Outside these walls he would return to being a no name half blood, she would return to being the princess of the Fire Nation, and they couldn't be together out there. Not like this anyway.

The Captain stirred beneath her. Azula smirked a little and leaned up off him, it hadn't been more than a moment, but she had enjoyed it. The princess smirked a little and turned her back to him, sitting some ways in front of him in the massive tub. "Would you mind washing out my hair Tatsu, it can be so troublesome to do for myself." She tossed her hair back behind her, smiling over her shoulder back at him.

Tatsuya smirked a little tilting his head to one side and rest it on a fist. "I would say Of Course Princess, but I feel I really should spice up my responses." He chuckled a little and Azula actually permitted herself to laugh momentarily, before her boy began slowly running his bending heated fingers through her hair.

He started with his palms lightly placed against her back and slowly slid them upward, intertwining them amongst the base of her raven locks, pulling them slowly through his fingers, weaving his nimble digits from her scalp out to the edge of her ebon mane. Azula rolled her head back, sliding his eyes closed as she reveled in the feeling of having his sturdy fingers stroke through her long hair. The princess rolled her head around as the Captain combed out her hair, untying the few knots he came across rather than knitting them out.

It was so alike to back in the palace where she could her hair brushed out by servants that for half an instant Azula almost felt like she was back home. Though she hated to admit it, she was starting to understand how her brother could be so determined to win back his honor, and return to the Fire Nation. He'd been banished for near three years, she'd been traveling for near three weeks, and already she desired to return.

The princess of the fire nation took a deep breath. "Enough captain." She leaned forward a little and Tatsuya quietly drew his hands back. Azula turned and smirked at him from behind her bangs. "I'm afraid it's time we returned to the inconsiderate outside." She laid a hand on his cheek; he closed his eyes and laid his hand into her hand. Azula smiled, and then nicked at the edge of his mandible with her nail. The Captain flinched, but that was all, even as she drew a drop of blood.

Azula carefully balanced the blood drop as on the edge of her nail, slowly drawing her arm closer, before quickly lashing out her tongue out and licking up the blood drop. She stood up, as light smirk gracing her face as Tatsuya bowed his head. A simple shadow of a gesture and the water around her feet vaporized.

"I'm afraid this may be the last event between us of such a… sympathetic nature Captain." She stretched and slid open the shimmering crystal door and stepping out of the bath, followed closely by a large cloud of steam and her naked compatriot.

The princess was mulling over how to continue when the near silent Captain spoke. "I… would prefer otherwise… Princess…" Azula half turned to look him in the eye. She was somewhat, startled by his outburst, but more so by how he stood, still without a single garment to cover himself, his skin dotted with a mix of sweat and bath water. He held a determined look in his eyes despite. The boy was almost trembling, and his face shifted between certainly and the fear of it. Azula smirked just a little. He knew what he wanted, he was just afraid to ask for it.

She coyly strolled out into the main bedchamber. "Well Captain. It might be possible, if you are somehow able to prove yourself during this war." She grinned to herself, though she couldn't have told you exactly why. There was just something about having Tatsuya want to be with her that she found so… attractive.


	17. Cool and Calm

The two didn't speak after they left Azula's bedroom. Well after Tatsuya left her bedroom. He left first, a good thirty minutes in advance of when the princess left. There were still things in town that needed arranging before the four of them could depart.

Not the least of which was the procurement of a carriage. Though the Captain managed to 'convince' one of the more wealthy local merchants to donate their personal carriage to the war, there was still the matter of making it look less like an Earth Kingdom carriage and more like something that could bear the princess of the Fire Nation. This was mostly because it wasn't wise to ride into a Fire Nation war camp inside a vibrantly Earth Kingdom carriage, but was also partly because Azula was getting tired of the color green.

It took the four of them roughly an hour to gather their supplies and pack up. Well it took the Captain nearly an hour to gather their supplies and pack them up. The girls were visiting the local shops one last time upon the prodding of Ty Lee. The gymnast girl had wanted to gather some clothes to replace those lost in the swamp. Mai had pointed out that they would likely be able to resupply at the Fire Nation encampment, but it was hard to argue with Ty Lee, particularly when they didn't have much else to do for an hour.

Ty lee found a few things she liked so much the merchants decided to 'donate' them, after perhaps just a little convincing on the part of the princess. The other two girls found little that interested them, Mai got dropped off at what apparently passed for a book store in the town, though it was really little more than a magazine stand. While Azula stayed with Ty Lee, though only for lack of anything better to do.

Shopping wasn't exactly the princess's idea of fun, though she did find it amusing to watch the venders squirm as Ty Lee browsed through their goods. Truthfully Azula probably spent more time looking at her nails than the Earth Kingdom merchandise. She honestly trusted Tatsuya to procure anything they would need for the day's trip.

That and the princess's mine was elsewhere. She was plotting. Azula had let herself become distracted in this village, and though she wasn't exactly upset about how her time had been spent, she did need to catch up on important things like capturing her brother and the little bald boy god. Of course her brother wouldn't be too hard to track down again. He wasn't the stealthiest boy in the world, what with that scar on his face, and there were wanted posters. Truth is Zuko likely had very few friends left in the world."Hmm… he probably won't be Zuko then…" Azula muttered under her breath as Ty Lee ogled some 'fine silk merchandise.' Azula simply noted that it would be likely her brother would be using an alias and turned her mind toward her other quarry.

The Avatar would prove to be a good deal harder to track. Though flying bison were fairly rare in the world today, equally rare were those who would know one when they saw it. Most just disregarded it as a cloud, and those who did think they saw something often didn't feel they should tell anyone for fear of not being believed. That was one of the only problems with being known as a vicious evil little girl, people didn't want to waste your time with what They didn't think was important. There needed to be more people like Tatsuya, people who not only knew what she would deem important, but would take it upon themselves to investigate to see if it was really important.

Oh sure every General and Commander in the Fire Nation wanted to be the one who caught the Avatar, but after what had happened to that one brownnoser Zhao there were very few who were taking it upon themselves to track the monk down. She would perhaps have to hand out new instructions for the processing of Avatar sightings. She could just have them be given to Tatsu, have him sort through what was credible and what wasn't, though that seemed like it would be a lot of extra work to push on the Captain.

As the princess pondered the best method to track down her future victims she found herself entering a rather nice red carriage. The red was clearly a recent paintjob, but as Tatsuya sat in the front holding the reigns of the four ostridge-horses that lead the carriage she knew it was theirs. "Perfectly prompt work captain, now let us depart from this nowhere town. It's high time we returned our focus to our original purpose here, finding my brother and eliminating the Avatar."

The Captain nodded as the three girls bored the carriage, Azula smirked a little, there was a large ornate chair cut into the back bench, an adequate replacement for her throne. It wasn't necessary of course, but a nice thought on the part of the Captain. Azula took her seat in the replacement throne and neatly crossed her legs in front of her, knitting her fingers together as Ty Lee skipped in and took a seat on the far side, leaning out the window there a little as she seemed fascinated with the view from inside the carriage, despite the fact that they hadn't actually gone anywhere. Mai just slipped in and sat facing the princess, though she two leaned against the window, the dower girl didn't draw the curtain back.

There was a light snap form in front of them and the carriage started forward, rocking back and forth a little before it got up to speed and the four Fire Nation citizens rolled out of the Earth Kingdom town. No one was going to miss them.

The three girls rode in relative silence. Relative silence in this case means that none of them carry anything that could be called a conversation with each other, though they each did respond when Ty Lee insisted on talking to them about something. Including one peculiar instance where the gymnast began talking to herself about how lovely the breeze, sky, sun and weather in general were. Neither of the other passengers could be bothered to notice.

Azula was busy thinking. Mai probably was too but her thoughts would remain a mystery to the princess, as they likely should. Azula was thinking about a number of things. Her thoughts shifted from what her brother or the Avatar's goals were, to how she would create an opportunity for the Captain to distinguish himself, to why she wanted to do so in the first place. It was no mystery to her that she liked the Captain, but it was so rare for her to like any boy, particularly an older common blood boy, that she wanted to understand what it was that attracted her to him.

It could be the simple fact that he was blindly loyal to her it was decidedly true that that was something she enjoyed about the boy, but there were others who would be willing to give their lives for her, though she'd always assumed that was more for defense of her as that she was her father's daughter than for her personal safety. That they were loyal to her father rather than to her, and she felt that that wasn't the case with Tatsuya. He didn't seem to hold any loyalty to the Fire Lord in particular. It seemed, or felt, like he needed her. Though what it was he could possibly…

Azula smiled, just for a second, hidden behind her knit fingers. Maybe that was it. He needed her. She'd never really been needed for anything before. Even this hunt was just her father's way of showing the public he was taking it seriously. That and the less people who knew just how traitorous her brother was the better, even now the word was only to detain him until her arrival. There wasn't even a whisper that he and Iroh were traitors. They kept it quiet. Their secrets were deadly and couldn't be allowed to fall into the wrong hands.

But the Captain, he needed her, desired her, longed for her control to guide him, and he had no secrets. His heart was born to her, nothing mattered to him enough to keep it secret. He didn't care if he died for her. The princess grinned a little, musing as she pondered when he'd first known it was her spirit that would give him the direction he desired. What had he thought of her when they'd first met?

Had he been standing there expecting some pampered blue blood princess. What had he expected when she'd walked through the door? Had he known even then that he needed her? How had he felt even then that she possessed the control he longed for? Was it something he'd learned from the time they'd spent, or the conversations they'd shared? Or had he felt it on her from the start, like Ty Lee's seeing of auras?

Azula leaned on one hand and stared out the window Ty Lee leaned out of. Men were such curious creatures. Most she could deduce the motives of in an instant, but hers, hers she had to ponder, think about, and wonder. Perhaps that was why she enjoyed him so much, he wasn't simple, he wasn't plane, he wasn't just one thing. He was a soldier of the Fire Nation, but he was also the child of the Earth Kingdom, and at the same time his heart belonged to neither nation. His heart belonged to her.

She rolled that truth around in her mind a little, continuing to question the events of the past few days as they rode, wondering vaguely what to do with his heart now that she had it. It dawned on her that she'd just spent near an hour thinking solely about Tatsuya, and she ground her teeth. What was she thinking, she wasn't just some gaggling school girl who couldn't stop thinking about 'the love of her life' when he wasn't around, and it wasn't even like he wasn't around. He was right outside driving the carriage.

The princess found herself growing annoyed. Not with the Captain, but with herself. Azula refused to believe that she was growing attached to the Captain so easily. She'd always prided herself on her ability to remain detached from the world, to remain cool and calm under even the most dangerous situations. And now she was losing that because of a boy?

It wasn't right. It wasn't her. She'd have to find some way to keep from losing herself simply because she'd found something to care about. Azula smirked a little, having a lover was certainly turning out to be a great deal of trouble for her. Though she didn't mind in the least.


	18. The Train

The princess awoke. She hadn't even noticed she'd fallen asleep, but it was the cessation of the carriage's gentle rocking that rousted her from her light slumber. He eyes darted over to examine her friends. Mai was laid out on the seat across from the princess, leaned up against the right door and spinning a knife around her fingers bored. Ty Lee was leaned out the window in the left wall ooing and ahhing at various things outside, so Azula assumed they had arrived at the Fire Nation camp.

Her suspicions were confirmed as the left door to the carriage was opened by some faceless helmet sporting Fire Bender. Standing behind him was an official looking soldier sporting grey hair and an overly manicured beard. "Princess Azula… Might I just say what an honor it is to have you take an interest in my works…" She recognized the man as he grinned a little. He was the war minister responsible for most of the military advancements in the past decade. The princess allowed his guards to help her out. "We, uhm, received your message and I came over with the Train, I brought the Mongoose Dragons you requested, but well, if I might ask, why you requested the use of the Fire Nation's latest vehicle design…"

"You may not War Minister." Azula cut the older man off. He was an adequate soldier, but as of recently the advancement's he'd offered were appearing less and less original. They were all being based off what they already had, and were no longer so innovative. Though that may have been due to his latest discovery the War Balloon, it was still being put into production but once it was completed it was to be a promising new means of both travel and battle. It was possible that the old man had burnt himself out, though truthfully Azula had never truly believed he was brilliant enough to come up with his those innovations by himself, but then again what Azula believed didn't matter. It was what her father held true that was important.

The war minister would've protested, but Tatsuya chose that moment to jump off the front of the carriage landing with a significant thunk that made everyone who wasn't Azula look over at him. He simply glared around at them and slowly drew his halberd from the back of the coachman's seat. Azula didn't even half to look as she heard the slow dragging of metal across wood. She could picture his face asking what they were all looking at.

Qin cleared his throat. "Ahem… yes well, the Train is stocked and ready to move out whenever you desire princess. I've had the Mongoose Dragons packed in the second container and the materials you specified in the first. Though some of it was rather hard to come by…" Azula smirked, so the Captain had sent them a list of what they needed to replace after the swamp fiasco, and started walking down toward the largest tent in the compound; it was always easy to tell where the top dog was because he always got the largest accommodations. Of course in this case the top dog was licking her boots at the moment, but that didn't mean she couldn't have her boots licked in the comfort of the boss's tent.

"That's very good Minister." The princess turned around. This caused a bit of a commotion as both Ty Lee and Mai were walking along side Azula, while the War Minister had been strolling a little in front of her. Qin's guards had been following him and since the princess had stopped he'd stopped, which in turn caused them to stop and shuffle around to stay in formation. The only one who didn't scuffle about at least a little was the one person walking directly behind the princess. "This is my personal guardsman Captain Tatsuya Shouhei. You are to provide him with anything he requires, treat him as you would me. He will be escorting me along with Mai and Ty Lee in my pursuit of the Avatar and location my brother. You are to relay any and all information on the location of either directly to him. He'll brief me later."

This order cause just the right amount of confusion to splash across the faces of all those present, well save Mai she couldn't have cared less. Ty Lee was confused because Azula had just referred to Tatsuya as her personal guardsman when he was really just her personal chief. The War Minister was confused because he'd just been ordered to treat someone he'd never even heard of before as he would the princess of the Fire Nation, and Tatsuya was confused because none of what the princess had just spoke of had been discussed with him before hand. Azula smirked and spun on her heel, beginning to stroll toward the large tent as she had before.

It took a moment but the War Minister snapped out of his odd stupor and restored himself to the princess's side, it was somewhat amusing to watch the prim and proper nobleman scurry to not be left behind. "Of, of course princess, anything you need, but might I ask why…"

"You may not War Minister." Azula restated herself, and sounded none too please for having to do so. Needless to say she shut the grey haired man up rather nicely.

Ty Lee giggled a little, though not because of the minister. She was giggling for her own reasons. Azula made a mental note to derive why she was glancing between her and Tatsu late, but as for now there were more important things to do, such as discover just what it was that the Captain had requested for her.

On this note Azula turned to leave, almost the exact moment she'd entered the general's tent. "Tatsuya I'll be expecting to find you here if you haven't reported to me yet." The Captain nodded back. "And I'll be expecting you," She turned to the War Minister, causing him to straighten his posture and cross his hands behind his back. "To provide him with all documentation and reports regarding either the location of my brother or the Avatar as instructed. I don't want to hear even a murmur of complaint from you or your men."

"Of course princess, but, might I inquire as to where you'll be?" The Minister clearly wasn't getting the hint that he didn't get to ask a lot of questions of the princess, but seeing as Tatsuya was already moving into the man's desk, and his tone wasn't one of disrespect but was instead clearly laced with his concern about a fourteen year old girl and her friends wandering about a war camp alone, Azula figured she might as well allow him this one question.

"I shall be inspecting this new contraption of yours, making certain that everything I requested is in order. Mai, Ty Lee." The princess tossed her head back to her two friends, and they each stepped to her side.

"Ah, well then, I shall accompany you and brief you on the Fire Nation's latest advancement in rapid land transportation." The Minister moved to accompany the girls, but Azula raised a hand and he was halted in his tracks.

"Thank you, but there's no real need. The Captain here will be driving for me, so I expect you to brief him in full, and I'd hate to make you repeat yourself." The War Minister was clearly getting aggravated over always behind handed to the Captain when he'd been expecting to deal directly with the princess, and though Azula couldn't help be feel a twinge of remorse for putting the Captain in such a position. Though at the same time she loved the look on the Ministers face, when each time he moved to do something for her, she simply waved him away and told him to deal with Tatsuya. It was, for lack of a better word, delicious.

The princess strolled calmly out of the tent, leaving the men in various uniforms behind. Ty Lee and Mai the only ones who accompanied her as she strolled out of the oversized tent and over toward the large mass of machinery that was to be her transportation and housing for an indeterminate amount of time.

Azula paused just a few feet from the entrance to the metal contraption. "So, what do you think girls? This thing is to be our home until we're done out here."

"It's not much to look at is it?" Mai folded her arms up into her sleeves and stared grimly out at the grey metal of the mechanical transport. Not that she was much for staring at things any other way, being grim was her strong suit and she was going with it.

"Oh, I don't know… I think it could be less… war machine-y with a different pain job… maybe even just a Fire Crest to give it some sort of color." Ty Lee tilted her head to one side and sort of eyed the side of the train.

Azula smirked a little. "Well it is a war machine; it's not exactly supposed to be pretty. The question was more whether we could live in it for however long it takes to retrieve my brother and capture the Avatar."

"Whatever." The grim girl just answered with an uncaring shrug.

"Oh I think we should be able to do fine wherever we end up, after all it will just be the three of us… And Tatsuuu." Ty Lee smirked a little, leaning over toward the princess and grinning so wildly even Mai raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "What? You saaaaid you liked him Azula." She stepped over toward the princess and smiled at her, actually playfully poking the royal's sides as she giggled.

Azula batted the gymnast away pausing a little. "When did I… oh, I never said I liked him. I simply said that I might be attracted to the man…" The princess raised her nose to the air a little and strolled toward the tram's door. "And… well, who wouldn't be?" She unbolted the door and slid it to the side, revealing a lush room decked with more than ample amounts of red velvet and silk. Ty Lee squealed a little and rushed inside, Mai strolled in after the princess paused a little to look around. "He is after all a very resourceful man."

Azula smirked a little and surveyed the room that 'she' had custom ordered. There was a large almost velvet red carpet with the fire crest emblazed in the center, a trio of dark rich wooden chairs around a matching table, a large auburn sofa spanned the middle of the cab and in the back was a dark metal bunk bed, with deep black-red blankets, and a sizable double bed with just enough space between the 

two to walk. There were a few tapestries along the walls, just the usual fire crest bearing designs to keep the walls warm, but it all and all was a fairly nice arrangement. Azula might have asked for a personal chair to replace the one sank in the swamp, but it wasn't a necessity.

The princess smirked and strolled in as if she'd known everything that would be there and how the room was to have been arranged. She did of course, have to keep up appearances. As far as any of those in the camp knew she herself had ordered the exact pieces of furniture to be placed in her cab. Although it dawned on her she didn't know the exact words the Captain had used, she found little enough wrong that she could do without changing it.

"So what do you think ladies?" Azula tossed her head back to the girls at either side of her.

"Dibs on the top bunk!" Ty Lee said with a giggle, rushing past the princess to swing herself up on the top of the bunk bed. It was clear the large bed would be for Azula.

Mai rolled her eyes and slowly sauntered over to sit on the lower bunk while the princess did the same, only she took a seat on the edge of her bed. "I suppose we should really wait for Tatsuya to return and report on the Avatar and my brother's locations…" Azula allowed herself to yawn just a bit. "But I am rather tired." She lay back on her bed, letting her legs dangle off the side as she stared up at the ceiling of the cab.

"Well then you should rest Azula." Ty Lee leaned over the side of her bunk, kicking her feet back and forth behind her. "After all I'm sure Taatsu would understand." She giggled a little still enjoying the fact that Azula had confessed to being attracted to the Captain, even if it had been after he'd viciously murdered that earth bender. It was just such a rare event for Azula to confess to being attracted to anyone that the gymnast was going to enjoy it while it lasted.

Azula took a deep breath and sat up, stretching her arms up over her head. "Well, we real should head out as soon as possible. We lost so much time in that swamp." She permitted herself a sigh and then got an idea.

The princess stood, and walked outside of the train cab. She looked around for the nearest soldier, and walked right over to one who appeared to be running to some place from some place with some kind of 

important orders from someone. "You!" She snapped and pointed to the message runner. The startled soldier looked around before pointing to himself in confusion."Yes, you." Azula played with a lock of her hair as she waited for him to run over and bow to her. He introduced himself as Lee something, but it didn't register, there were a million Lees. "I want you to find Captain Tatsuya Shouhei. He should be in the command tent. Tell him that Princess Azula has decided to retire for the night, but he is to wake her as soon as he's something to report. Understand?"

"Yes princess Azula, I shall deliver the message." The soldier bowed to her, and all and all took himself far too seriously. He was acting like this was some great important message. Honestly Azula was just telling her boy friend she was taking a nap and it was alright for him to wake her up.

The princess smirked a little as she slowly walked back to the train car. It was just dawning on her she could call Tatsu her boyfriend. She'd never had one of those before...


	19. Under Way

"Princess?" Azula's eyes flicked open. The speaker was Tatsu, though Ty Lee was leaning on the edge of her bunk, kicking her feet back and forth behind her with a wide self-satisfied grin as she eavesdropped. Of course the gymnast's bed wasn't three feet away from where the princess lay.

The Captain was kneeled at her bedside, his pole-arm at his side. The boy was completely oblivious to the gymnast eaves dropping behind him. He really did look a great deal like the noble knight, knelt at his master's side. "I've come to report on the locations of The Avatar and Prince Zuko."

Azula sat up, lightly brushing a lock of her hair out of her face as she sent a lukewarm glare toward the eavesdropping gymnast. "Of course Captain." The princess slipped off the side of her bed, standing beside Tatsuya as she adjusted her hair, falling asleep with it up had been hard on it. After half a moment of trying to fix it she just removed her clip and let it fall out over her shoulders. "Come, let's discuss this elsewhere Captain." She eyed Ty Lee a little; the gymnast smirked and made a kissy face at the princess.

"Of course princess." The Captain stood, drawing his halberd up to his side as he followed Azula out of the forward cab and after a hop and a skip over the joint between the two, into the storage cab. There was a little more than a hall down the center of the second cab; boxes piled high on the right, cages containing the Mongoose Dragons that the princess and her friends were to mount on the left.

"Now than Captain…" Azula started, but one of the dragon beasts in the cage just past her shoulder chose that moment to crash itself against its cage's bars not two feet from the princess's head, snarling and trashing at it attempted to reach the small girl. Azula half turned toward it and slowly raised an eyebrow. The beast settled down and slunk back into the dark recesses of its cage. "Ahem…" Azula began again. "Now then Captain, what have you learned?"

Tatsuya paused a little, he'd been a bit startled by the large reptilian beast's charge. They were supposed to be tamed, but he guessed you could only do so much with some creatures. He cleared his throat. "Ahem, yes… Uh, it would appear that your brother and uncle have begun traveling as individuals, and as such it's become difficult to track them. We do know that they appear to be headed roughly in the same direction, but we do not know what goals they might be after or where they are headed."

The princess allowed herself a sigh, more for effect than anything else. "So, do we even know either of their current locations?"

The Captain shook his head slowly back and forth. "We would likely be able to pick up their trails fairly easily if we were to dispatch any scouts for that specific purpose, but as of right now we only know their general location."

Azula crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the bars of the Mongoose Dragons' cage. The reptilian beasts within didn't even flinch. "And the Avatar, do we have any better news to report on him?"

"Well actually." Tatsuya smirked; he had clearly started with his weakest foot so he could end with his strongest. "With the coming spring we've picked up a trail of what we believe to be Sky Bison hair. It is the current census that they Avatar's chosen mount sheds during the spring, so we believe…"

"That following the trail of white hair will lead us directly to the Avatar." Azula was fairly quick on the uptake. It didn't take a genius to figure out that a trail of white hair falling from the sky was probably related to the only remaining flying white haired creature in the world, and its owner. She smirked a little and leaned off the cage. "Excellent work Captain, but, one more thing." She strolled past him just a little.

It was difficult to do, due to the narrow hallway of the storage cab. The Captain's back was pressed up against the Mongoose Dragons' cage as he moved aside for the princess; even still they were practically standing on top of each other for half a second. One of the dragons spun and hissed at the man pressed against their cage, and Tatsuya stumbled away, being careful not to bump into Azula purely out of habit, they were alone after all. "Yes princess?"

Azula smirked a little half turning to look back at him over her shoulder while she played with a lock of her hair, coiling it slyly around her fingers slowly. "I noticed that you only request three beds. Where will you be sleeping?" Though she still sounded like herself, there was something within her voice that was distance from the cold calculating princess of the Fire Nation everyone saw her as. She even bit her bottom lip a little, not enough to be noticed even, but she did so all the same.

The Captain smiled lightly. "There's a cot in the forward second of the train." He shifted lightly, rubbing the back of his head and averting his eyes. "I… hope the loggings are to your liking princess… I tried my best to gather things to your liking, and that of Ladies Mai and Ty Lee."

The princess smirked a little leaning to one side. "The accommodations are fine Tatsu, Mai couldn't care less about how she lived and Ty Lee was staying with a circus. As far as she's concerned as long as she's with the rest of us she's fine. Although, she has become suspicious of our interactions." The Captain turned pale a little, well aware that he would likely be executed if their relationship made it to the ears of anyone who would care. "Though this is clearly just her imagination." He relaxed a little and Azula smirked. He was so easy to manipulate it was almost cute.

"As for the Avatar." She began, as she strode through the door, over the joint between the two cabs and back into the one where Mai rested and Ty Lee had her ear pressed up against the wall, still laying on the top bunk. "I want use moving full steam after him, I want you burning the midnight oil on this Captain, is that clear?"

"Yes, of course princess." The Captain half bowed as Azula stepped out of the narrow path between the beds. He walked down to the end of the cab, and without turning to look back, stepped out to the forward cab. He did pause halfway through the forward doorway. "I'll be getting us underway shortly, please be prepared ladies. I've been told that there is a sudden jerk when this machine first starts out."

"Thank you Captain, we'll be sure to be careful." Azula waved a hand at him, just sort of waving him away.

"Yeah Tatsu, thanks for looking out for us!" Ty Lee leaned her elbows on the edge of her bunk smiling down at the retreating soldier boy. He flashed back a weak smile before disappearing behind the heavy metal door of the cab.

The moment he was out of the cab Ty Lee shot Azula a scolding look. Well as scolding a look as the gymnast could manage, which considering it was aimed at Azula, was little more than throwing a rock at an Earth Bender. "Azula I thought you said you liked Tatsu!" She pouted a little at the princess.

Azula laid out on her bed, sort of throwing herself down on the deep red bed. "What are you talking about Ty Lee?" She sounded almost bored as she rolled onto her side lying out as she looked up at the gymnast.

"What do you mean what do I mean?!" Ty Lee huffed a little and then pouted, dangling her arms over the edge of her bed. Mai, who was reading on her bed at the moment, looked at the dangling hands of the gymnast with the sort of expression that she normally wore, none. "Azula you were so cold to poor Tatsu, I thought you said you liked him…" Ty Lee sounded almost a little disappointed, though it was clear she knew her hopes that the princess might behave differently were too high to begin with.

"Ty Lee, if you're going to scold me, at least make it clear what it is you're scolding me for." The princess didn't sound at all annoyed with the gymnast. Honestly she just sort of sounded bored, or a lot like Mai. "And I told you. I don't 'like' the Captain; I just think he is an attractive man."

Ty Lee continued to pout at the Fire Nation royal. "Well if you think he's cute than why don't you flirt with him? He's totally into you, and you two would make just the cutest couple!" The gymnast wiggled a little envisioning all sorts of things between the princess and the Captain, even as the train's engine began to growl from the forward cab.

Azula didn't even want to know what the gymnast was picturing. "I'm not any good a flirting, besides, it would never work. I'm a princess; he's a half blood captain."

"Not to mention your father would have a fit." Mai chose that less than chipper note to be her first and last contribution to the conversation.

"Oh… yeah huh… Fire Lord Ozai would never approve of a guy like Tatsu…" The mention of the Fire Lord was enough to demoralize even the ever chipper Ty Lee.

Azula rolled onto her back and laid out on her bed, staring up at the cold steal of the ceiling as the train lurched forward and began gaining speed. "Like I said, it would never work out." She perhaps let a little too much unhappiness lace her voice but she couldn't be bothered to care at the moment. She was tired of this conversation, and still just kind of tired. "Good night girls." She flicked her fingers and the torches on the ceiling flicked out, the only light now pouring through the windows from the moon outside.

"Hey Azula?" It was Ty Lee.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think… that if Tatsu were to, like… become a war hero, by like capturing the Avatar or something… do you think your dad wouldn't mind too much?" She almost surprised Azula, the gymnast wasn't too known for thinking things through, but for her to think to the extent that if the Captain became a hero to with the Fire Lord's praise. She must have been very determined to get the two of them together.

Azula smirked. "Perhaps Ty Lee, but for now, sleep."


	20. The Chase

"Captain, status report." Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee thundered into the engine room of the train. There the Captain had been laboring nearly all night to drive and keep the train on track, pursing the Avatar. It was a small room, with a large gated mouth onto the device's burning core in the far wall. On either side there was a wheel, used to direct the forward grapples mounted on the outside. The main wheel just beside the fire mouth guided the train itself. The room was uncomfortable hot due to the constant flame and the Captain had removed his shirt to stay cool.

Ty Lee covered her mouth, giggling a little at the boy who wasn't wearing his shirt; his hair even more disheveled than normal. While he still had it up in the traditional topknot wild hairs strands had been shaken loose during the course of the evening, stoking an engine and keeping the train guided was hard and hot work.

Despite his appearance he stuck his heels together and saluted the princess, using the traditional Fire Nation hand sign and a bow. "We're closing in Princess. We should be able to spy them by night fall, assuming the break to make camp. The train seems to be able to match the bison's speed, but unlike the Avatar's mount the train does not tire thirst or hunger." He smirked, smiling at the three girls. "It is a wondrous machine; the ingenuity of the homeland never ceases to amaze me."

"That's all great Tatsu… but, _you_ get tired." Ty Lee leaned forward a little, just enough to get her head past the princess's shoulder and get the attention of the Captain. "Don't you?..."

The Captain answered with a half hearted chuckle, rubbing the back of his head lightly. Mai glanced over at his bed cot; the blankets were still tucked up under the pillow. Someone may have laid on it, but no one had slept in it that was clear. "You haven't slept all night. Have you Captain?"

Tatsuya slumped a little. It was hard to argue when someone pointed out the truth with the cold precision that Mai managed so well. "No… I haven't…"

"You need sleep Tatsu…" Ty Lee held genuine concern for him in her voice.

"But the Avatar is just a day away and with trail of bison hair we have a way to track him, I can go without sleep for a few nights, we can't let this opportunity pass." The Captain seemed almost determined in this; it wasn't like him to argue. Though everyone there knew who would have the final say. Ty Lee and Tatsuya turned to Azula to decide.

The princess had been staring at her nails. She slowly looked from the Captain to the gymnast, and then back to the Captain. "If we don't over take the Avatar by dawn tomorrow you're to take it easy Tatsuya. I know we seem very close, but you'll be no good to me if you tire yourself out within the first few days of the chase. One mustn't direct all of their energy into a single course of action unless it is certain to succeed." Azula nodded and looked over the two parties. Tatsuya crossed his hands in front of him and bowed. Ty Lee pouted but nodded. "That being said, once we're within sighting distance I would like for you to cut burning coal and relay on your bending instead, it'll give us a smaller lighter smoke cloud and as such we'll be harder to see coming. Also…" She paused for just a moment, looking the two over once again. Then the princess's features softened, she stopped giving orders. "What's for breakfast?"

Ty Lee launched herself on Azula, who knows why, but the hug was met with an adequate smile, though the gymnast was pushed off a moment later. She bounced off to the side and smiled over at the Captain. "Yeah, so Tatsu, what's on the menu today?" She smirked and giggled just a little, clearly amusing herself.

The Captain smirked a little, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, I don't have any real cooking devices set up, though I did have some packed. Let me check the hold and I'll see what I can make?"

"That will be fine Captain; just do be quick about it?" Azula tilted her head to the side ever so slightly. It dawned on her as she pondered why he hadn't set to work readying his device while he was up all evening tending the engine fire that he couldn't have, while staying in the forward cab he would've had to walk strait through their room to reach the hold. The princess smirked a little as she and the other girls walked back to their room, the Captain following close behind. Apparently there was something about sneaking through their bedchamber that outweighed having breakfast prepared when they awoke. Perhaps it with their last bedside encounter...

The girls sat on their beds. Azula laid back against the head of her bed, Ty Lee jumped and flipped up onto her bed, and Mai just sort of sat on the edge of hers. The Captain strolled past the three, bowing his head slightly as he passed. The three girls somewhat ignored him as he ferried various boxes back and forth from the rear cab to the engine room.

That is until Ty Lee decided to try her hand at subtly divining his feeling for the princess. "So… Captain… What'd you think of Azula?" The gymnast wasn't known for her tact, and possessed the subtly of a porcupine-boar. The question nearly caused Tatsuya to trip and drop a rather large box marked 'spices' on top of himself. The princess wasn't any more pleased with the indiscretion of the question, though for the sake of appearances she mimicked Mai and simply sat up, raising an inquisitive eyebrow at the stumbling boy.

Tatsuya coughed against the crate in his hands as he straightened himself. "Ahem, ah, well. I'd best be getting these spices to the engine cab." He cleared his throat a little and attempted to avoid the question by continuing toward the door.

Ty Lee giggled a little, clearly enjoying herself a little too much. "Nuh-uh Tatsu you're not getting away from the question that easy. You'll have to come back sometime." She giggled again and the Captain ducked through the far door, perhaps a little over egger to escape the gymnast's inquest.

Though now it was Azula's turn to question. The princess turned to her bubbly friend and tilted her head just gently to the side. "So where did that come from Ty Lee?"

"Hmm?" The other girl tilted her head back. "What'd you mean Azula? It's clear Tatsu likes you, I'm just trying to get him to admit it." She covered her mouth lightly kicking her feet back and forth as she giggled at the thought of a dramatic and flamboyant proclamation of love from the Captain for Azula. "After all, he likes you, and you think he's cute, and you two would just make the most adorable couple if one of you would just admit that you like the other." She pouted a little, somewhat desiring to attempt to convince Azula to be the one to proclaim her love, but Ty Lee knew better than to try and convince the princess to do anything, especially if it dealt with emotions.

"Ty Lee…" Azula started gently, she didn't want to start right in berating the girl. After all Ty Lee always had good intentions. "While I appreciate your aim, I really must insist you stop this. There is absolutely nothing between the Captain and myself." As the princess said this last part the Captain returned from the forward cab. He paused a moment and the two met eyes. Azula blinked and looked to her nails, and then cursed herself for doing so. He was just a boy, a common half blood boy of no importance whatsoever and neither any political nor military standing. His feelings should've meant nothing to her. He was just a boy.

Ty Lee blinked as she noticed the Capitan. "Tatsu!" She flipped up sitting cross-legged on her bed as she waved her hands about attempting to look like they hadn't just been talking to her. "Uhm… uh… How's breakfast coming?" She chuckled weakly and smiled.

Tatsuya grinned a little and slowly walked between the girls. "It'll be ready in a few minutes. I hope you don't mind pancakes, I could add some fruit if you ladies would prefer."

"Oh Tatsu that's perfect!" Ty Lee squeaked out, earning confused stares from all present. The gymnast smirked a little and rubbed the back of her head, giggling a little. "For breakfast. That's perfect for breakfast. You know how I love hay-berries." She smirked a little, being so sweet it was actually kind of hard to tell if she was lying.

"Well… I'm fairly certain I have some hay-berries in the hold, would you like me to fetch them and add some to the batter Lady Ty Lee?" The Captain was clearly a little confused.

He was even more confused by how Ty Lee responded. "No that's ok Captain, I'll get 'em, I can bring them to you in the front right?" She smiled flipping herself down out of her bed and scurrying into the back before Tatsuya even had a chance to respond. The Captain just sort of shrugged and headed back to the forward cab where he had his stove set up.

"Ty Lee's up to something." Azula said with a displeased pout toward the rear door.

"What was your first clue?" Mai wasn't exactly surprised by the princess's revelation; in fact she was practically sarcastic.

"It has to have something to do with the Captain…" Azula muttered under her breath. Though she'd never admit it upon pain of death, and was furious with herself for it, she was somewhat concerned that the Captain would fall under that natural allure that the gymnast seemed to possess.

"Hmm? You say something Azula?" Ty Lee chose that moment to come stepping through the door, a small box in her hands.

The princess looked over, curling a lock of her hair between her fingers. "What are you up to Ty Lee? Helping the Captain with breakfast and everything, you've never been the greatest cook."

The gymnast smirked. "Well, maybe it's time I learned from a master." She giggled a little and skipped toward the forward cab. "Don't worry, you'll find out." She giggled again before vanishing through the heavy iron door.

The princess rolled her tongue against her teeth, trying to not pout. "Well. She's in a good mood." Mai commented in her off hand, without really carrying manner.

"Yes. She is." Azula replied, almost in the exact same tone, though hers bore just a shallow shadow of scorn.

The train rolled on forward, continuing to chase after the trail of bison hairs, guided under the watchful eye of the Captain, even as he prepared their meal. Truthfully it couldn't have taken him that long, a few minutes, ten at the most, but Ty Lee had returned a mere moment after entering Tatsuya's forward cab, she'd left the box but that was to be expected, it was presumably the hay-berries.

Azula mind was spinning, trying to figure out what the gymnast was up to. She couldn't have been alone with the Captain long enough for them to hold much more than a conversation, and it didn't seem that Tatsuya had any interest in Ty Lee to begin with. Not to mention Ty Lee had convinced herself that the Captain was interested in the Azula, which one would think would have stayed any advances from the gymnast, but perhaps the princess had made it too clear that she hadn't any feelings for the Captain. Though she had said she found him attractive, she'd fairly well ground that to death once her friend had realized what she'd said.

Though the princess wasn't left to wonder for long, her questions were answered quiet artfully once Tatsuya walked back with the three plate of pancakes and served them to each of the girls in turn, laying them gently on the edge of their beds atop small trays designed to serve food to those still in bed.

Azula questions were answered in the form of three moderately sized, heart shaped, pancakes, with a lightly sugar dusted hay-berry laid on each of them sitting on her plate. The princess blinked. For a moment she had actually thought that it could've been the Captain's idea, though if it was his concept of 'hiding a relationship' would've needed redefining. It only took a moment for Azula to realize that the utterly unsolicited act of romance had come from the bubbling mind of the girl who was currently giggling her head off atop the bunk bed.

"Ty Lee put you up to this didn't she Captain?" The princess said in a somewhat bored, but mildly amused tone, as she started to cut a small piece off one of the heart pancakes.

Tatsuya grinned a little and rubbed the back of his head, half bowing a little as he chuckled lightly. "She can be… very convincing when she wants to be."

"Awh Tatsu! You weren't supposed to tell her!" The gymnast in question was none too pleased by how easily her plot to push the Captain and princess together had been seen through. "She was supposed to think it was your idea…" Ty Lee pouted a little and popped a sugar dusted hay-berry into her mouth.

Tatsuya chuckled a little again, and this time half bowed to Ty Lee. "I apologize, Lady Ty Lee. I've just never been very good at deception."

"Well then you should fit in marvelously here Tatsu." Mai spoke, and actually made a joke, though it only elicited a small laugh from the Captain, mostly out of courtesy. Ty Lee was too busy eating and Azula didn't really think it was funny, well that and the princess never really laughed at anything.

The Captain returned to the forward cab shortly after the girls finished their meals. He scorched clean the dishes and then set back to work guiding the massive device they were traveling within. Tatsuya didn't return to the girl's cab until it was time for lunch, for which they had some lovely lightly herb crusted Komodo-Chicken. Complete with another food based flirtation from the mind of Ty Lee. This time seared herbs in the shape of a heart pieced arrow.

Azula could've cared less about the whole thing and deliberately went about destroying the edible love note as she ate. It wasn't so much that it was a love note, or that it was from Tatsu, so much as it was that it was a love not from Tatsu, that was Ty Lee's idea. She wasn't exactly sure why that bothered her 

so much but it did. She suspected it wasn't so much that she disliked advances from the Captain that it was, she disliked advances from the Captain that were neither his, nor could she respond to. He only choice of action was to ignore him. Which, while it had its amusing qualities, wasn't exactly fun.

After that brief and pointless event the four pretty much went their own ways. Tatsuya returned to the helm and went about guiding the hurtling train along the almost path of white bison fluff that lay across the landscape showing the way to their quarry. Ty Lee spent her time brushing out the princess's hair, which Azula didn't exactly mind; it was relaxing and kept the gymnast busy so she didn't get any more ideas on how to get Azula and the Captain together.

Azula herself was thinking, the gears and wheels of her mind turning while her friend hummed quietly behind her. The question on her mind was quiet simple really. How was she to get Ty Lee to drop this infatuation she had with the idea of the Captain and herself together? It wasn't really that Azula minded the idea, after all, behind closed doors she actually quite liked Tatsuya, and that was the problem.

If she didn't care one way of the other she wouldn't mind what Ty Lee did, she'd just continue to ignore the gymnast's efforts until eventually she just gave up, but because Azula did have feelings for the Captain, or at least she felt like she should have feelings for the Captain. The truth was that the princess didn't really know how to have feelings for someone. It wasn't that she was a complete fool and couldn't understand her own feelings. It was that she didn't really know what she should be feeling; she knew she Was feeling she just didn't know if what she was feeling is what she should be feeling to say she had feelings for the Captain. After all she had 'feelings' for everyone she met, she either liked them or didn't, felt they were complete fools or useful assets. It was just; she didn't find herself thinking of Tatsu as either of those. She was thinking of him more as she thought of Mai and Ty Lee, and to be perfectly honest she wasn't entire certain what that was either. All she knew was that she liked having those people around.

Azula pouted a little. Liking someone was so hard to understand, how do you like them, why do you like them, how much do you like them, do you want them to like you back? All of these questions. Intimidating someone was easier, are they afraid of you, if not why not. It was all just so… difficult, particularly for the princess for some reason. She wondered vaguely if Zuko hadn't found fire bending more something like this.

Mai was reading a book.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the princess was left to dwell on her questions for several full hours before there was something to interrupt her. Of course the girls did busy themselves with things to distract them, and pass their time. Mostly listening to Ty Lee talk about one thing or another. They played cards for a while, but then Azula had won all of their pocket change and that sort of ended their game. Ty Lee attempted to get the other two to spill their hearts about what they would like in a boyfriend, but Mai pretty much described Zuko, and Azula dodged the question quite tactfully.

It was around dinner when the interruption presented itself. Tatsuya had been at the helm preparing, whatever it was he was going to prepare for dinner, Basilisk something, it looked like a stew, but that wasn't the point. The point was, he saw the end of the trail.

"Princess! Ladies Mai, Ty Lee!" The Captain nearly launched himself through the doorway, catching himself on the edges to simply lean through. "The Avatar is up ahead!"

The three girls simultaneously sat up from around the small, bolted down, table where they had been playing cards an hour or two earlier.

"How far ahead is he Captain?" Azula marched past Tatsuya, not into the forward cab but instead she half climbed the small latter on the back of the engine, raising her head just high enough over the top to see the small forest where the trail lead.

"I believe he's in that forest Princess." Tatsuya stepped back letting the other two girls step into the small space between the cabs.

"You believe?" Azula twitched her brow as she dismounted the latter. "You haven't confirmed his location yet?" She phrased her question so that it held just enough annoyance to be threatening.

"I didn't want to approach too quickly Princess." The Captain bowed to her. "But had the Avatar simply flown over the forest, there would be hairs caught in the branches. There aren't."

"So, he must have landed in the forest, his bison lowering below the branches before enough of the beast's hair flew off to get caught." Azula smirked a little, they had him. "Continue ahead full steam, but I'd like you to personally fuel the engine from here on Captain. Fire bending will give us less of a plum."

"Of course Princess." Tatsuya bowed to Azula, and then half bowed to Mai and Ty Lee before returning to the forward cab to stoke the engine.

"Gee, I guess this means we're going to have to fight soon huh?" Ty Lee had somehow managed to climb up the doorway back to the second cab and currently had herself raised up high enough to see over the front of the train and to the forest they were rapidly approaching. "Oo, what a pretty sunset too." She also saw the setting sun off in the west before dropping back down to walk with the others into their cab. Her face was a little black from the soot cloud the engine was spewing. She smirked and rubbed it off on her sleeve.

"So. I guess this means we should, mount up, or whatever it's called." Mai sighed a little as if she was disappointed in them finding the Avatar. Of course she was never exactly enthusiastic. "You know I don't think I've ever actually seen a Komodo Dragon."

"Oh they're only the most adorable creatures ever." Ty Lee beamed at her depressing friend as the three of them walked back into the rear cab where the creatures in question were being kept. Two of these 'adorable' dragons launched themselves at the bars of their cage at the sight of movement. Ty Lee walked up to one and started rubbing its nose, which it actually seemed to like and calmed it down considerable, despite the gymnast's baby talk.

"Yeah. Adorable." Mai glared up at her would be mount as it hissed at her. This beast seemed to get the picture and sort of just laid down.

Azula had just thrown a saddle over her beast when the Captain's voice piped in through the train's intercom system. "My apologies, the Avatar seems to have spotted us. He has taken to the air once again, though I am continuing the pursuit."

The princess permitted herself a sigh, and decided to leave the saddle on her mount, best to be prepared. She strode over to the receiver by the door, with perhaps a little irritation in her stride, and 

snatched up speaker phone. "That's fine Tatsuya, it's not your fault. Keep pursuing them and keep us on low burn. I don't want to give off too much of an ash cloud if we can help it."

"Of course princess, as you command." The Captain's voice replied, metallic and echoing over the speaker system. "Though princess…" His tone, even over the intercom, was a little… hesitant.

"What is it Captain?" Azula wasn't particularly in the mood to be questioned, the Avatar had just slipped through her fingers for the second time, and she had to make certain that that didn't become a trend.

"Would you like me to postpone dinner? Or serve it as planned?"

"As planned will be fine Captain…" She hung up the receiver and walked back to her cab, Mai and Ty Lee on her heels.

The princess was still harboring a little irritation over the Avatar's escape, but it was easy enough to slip back into business as usual once the Captain brought back one of his perfectly prepared dishes, though he didn't stay to chat, because he was needed to keep bending the engine's fire.

It was just as well Azula wasn't making very good company, and Ty Lee was still trying to get the Captain to confess his love for her.

Things actually got a bit better after the encounter on the mountain. Something about personally watching people flee in fear of her always put Azula in a good mood. Though Mai remained as dower and ever, and the longer Ty Lee stayed awake the more energetic the gymnast appeared to get. So some time near dawn the three girls laid down for the night or morning as it were.

The Captain was required to remain awake and pilot the pursuit, though he didn't say word against it, he did pass out shortly after the girls split up. Officially he had remained behind to guard the train while Mai and Ty Lee heading off to chase down the Avatar's bison and allies, and Azula headed after the Avatar himself…

* * *

Alright. So, I have a Question to ask of all my loyal readers and fans. Originally this story was going to end at Ba Sing Sei, where season 2 ended. But seeing how season 3 has ended, and many questions about the princess's, well, everything, haven't been answered, I have been considering continuing it past to end it where the series ended. Though being myself I am unable to decide one way or another, so. Please let your opinions be known, while you review. ;p


	21. Fetch

Tatsuya woke up to a splash of very cold river water in the face. His natural response for this was of course to shoot fire at the source of the water. Unfortunately for him the source was the sleeve of Mai's robe, fortunately for him she was too quick to hit. "Relax Tatsu. It's us."

He blinked up at the two rather soggy ladies and climbed to his feet. "My apologies Ladies Mai, Ty Lee." He rubbed the back of his head lightly bowing to the two in slight servitude, before taking upon more a caretaker feel and blinking at them again. "You're soaking wet."

"We got dumped in a river by the Avatar's bison." Mai rung some more cold water from her robes.

"Well him and his cute friend." Ty Lee said with a bit of a smile, before catching a glance from Mai and innocently staring at the sky.

"Mind if we hang our cloths in the engine room to dry?" Mai turned back to the Captain, ringing out her other sleeve, the ground around her feet turning to a bit of a mud puddle.

Tatsuya blinked a little as his mind slowly caught up to being awake. "Yes, of course, go right ahead, but, where is princess Azula?"

"What's the matter Captain, worried for Azulaaa?" Ty Lee leaned toward him, before standing back and breaking out into a fit of giggles.

Mai rolled her eyes. "If I had to guess. I'd say at the bottom of that." The dower girl pointed to a large smoke cloud rising off in the distance, it looked like an entire town was on fire.

The three just sort of paused, staring off at the giant smoke cloud for a moment. Then Tatsuya sighed a little, not quite a remorseful sigh, but more like the release of a held breath. "I'll start the train. You two should change clothes before you catch your deaths." With that the Captain climbed back into the engine room.

"Rightio Tatsu… o…" Ty Lee failed at rhyming something with the Captain's name as she skipped toward the still open back end of the train. She shook off her wristbands and unclipped her skirt as she walked, water dripping off them.

Mai untied her sash and cracked it like a whip, sending a splatter of damp across the metal floor, and then set about unclipping her various sharp implements from the inside of her sash. "Even my daggers are soaked." She sighed. Without her sash her robes fell slightly open, not too much as she did have her long vest, but just enough to let a glimmer of flawless pear skin flicker in and out of sight as she began to remove all of her various sharp implements from her soggy robes and laid them out on the foot of her bunk.

"Well look on the bright side Mai. At least this time we're not stuck in a swamp." The ever positive Ty Lee smiled down from the top bunk as she pulled her shirt off over her head, revealing her bandage bound chest.

"Oh yeah, because ice cold river water is so much better." Mai threw one of her socks down next to her sandals; it made her point with a satisfactory squish.

"O…k… so maybe it's not that much better… But hey at least this time Tatsuya to help us dry off." She glanced about the cab for someone to back her up, but the Captain wasn't even there. She pouted a little.

"Let's just get these things hung up so they can dry." Mai, now stripped down to her bra and bindings looked up at her bubbly companion. "Preferably before we pick up Azula and she sees us stripped down to our skivvies with her new boyfriend."

Ty Lee suppressed a fit of giggles as she flipped down from her bunk, her garments in her arms as were her dower companions. "Heheh, I knew you thought Tatsu liked Azula just as much as I did."

"How could I not?" Mai looked over at her chipper comrade. "It's practically written on his forehead."

"What's written on whose forehead?" Tatsuya looked back over his shoulder. The girls had walked in just in time for him to over hear them talking about him. He'd been busily stringing up what appeared to be fishing wire between the walls of the small, already cluttered engine room.

"Oh just that you've got a big ol' crush on our little princess." Ty Lee leaned over to him, practically leaning on him were she not carrying wet bunches of clothes. She was already grinning, and when the Captain flushed in reaction to her comment she burst out giggling.

At least that was until Tatsuya snatched Mai's shirt from out of her arms. "Perhaps we should just bet these hung up?" He was pouting a little but the question bore enough annoyance that the giggling gymnast swallowed her laughter and set to hanging the dripping clothes.

Mai sat back on a pile of boxes labeled 'Spices' neatly stacked in a back corner beside Tatsu's bed. "So Tatsu, do you like Azula? Because if not then you're doing the best job of faking it I've ever seen."

"I'm not faking Lady Mai." The Captain smiled slightly, stringing up Mai's kimono by running a line through the arms and hooking either side to the walls. It made a most wonderful screen to stand between him and the half naked girls. Simply to avoid temptation of course, he belonged to the princess. "And though I'd like this to be kept secret." He brushed out the arms of the dower girl's robe, just to keep it from wrinkling as it dried. "I will admit to a certain… attraction to the princess."

Ty Lee clapped and leapt a few inches into the air, pointing over at Tatsuya. "I knew it!" All eyes went to the gymnast as she practically danced around the cluttered cab. "I knew you liked the princess! And she likes you too. It's so perfect you'd think someone had written it!" The little gymnast danced over to the Captain and stared up at him, perfectly comfortable with naught but her chest bindings and under garments on. "So when are you going to ask her out?"

The Captain blinked a couple of times, staring down at her. He sighed a little. "Lady Ty Lee… It's not that simple…" He paused a little, busying himself, and breaking the gymnast's staring contest by returning to hanging the girls' damp clothes. "She's the princess of the most powerful nation in the world. And I'm…"

"Worthless pond-scum unfit to stand in her presence?" The dower Mai provided a more than adequate completion of the infatuated boy's sentence. Personally while she understood the difficulties of their budding romance, she found the whole thing incredibly boring.

Ty Lee and Tatsu stared at the gothic girl for a moment. "Uh… well I was going to say half-breed peasant, but yeah… that too…" The Captain rubbed the back of his head lightly, and finished hanging up the girls' clothes, they weren't dripping wet any more, but they were still fairly damp. "An' after all, it's not like we would exactly travel in the same circles." He sighed a little, brushing off Ty Lee's shirt before turning back to the furnace and firing a wave of flames into the crackling mouth.

The train surged forward, causing all those in the cab to rock back and forth. Ty Lee pouted a little hopping up to sit on Tatsuya's cot. "Yeah but… you're both here, together, now… Right?" She looked from Mai, to the silhouette of the Captain, outlined against Mai's robe by the light of the furnace fire.

"And then what?!" Tatsuya snapped back half turning to glare though the hanging robe. "The princess sails off back to the Fire Nation and I go back to my nothing post in the western sea and we never see each other again?!" He sighed calming himself and turned back to the furnace. He tossed another curl of flames into it. "Yes. I like the princess, but don't you think I've thought about it?..." Another lock of flames curled its way from his fingers into the furnace. "She's a princess. I'm a worm… It could never work… No matter how much I want it to…"

Ty Lee curled her knees up to her chest, and for once, shared an expression with Mai. "I'm sorry… I just wanted you two to be happy together… I mean it's so rare for someone to Like like Azula, and I don't think she's ever liked a boy before… I was just trying to get you two to be honest with each other, but all of my pushing… it must have been just awful for you Tatsu…"

"It's hard to know you can't be with who you want to…" All eyes turned to the somber Mai. She almost sounded like she was speaking from experience.

The three dropped the subject there. And though the girls didn't leave the engine room, for lack of any real reason two, their conversations seldom involved the Captain. Occasionally they would turn to him for an opinion on something, like whether they would look better with her hair down or up, but he always avoided it with the eloquence and grace of one who didn't want to say one way or the other.

They pulled over once when they saw a Komodo Dragon wandering the desert, and while it proved to be the princess's, she wasn't with it. Tatsu was getting nervous, and while Ty Lee though that adorable of him she restrained herself from saying anything and the three continued on to the still burning town.

"What kept you?" Azula had been waiting in the main run through town. The train pulled up past her and the center cab door kicked open. Mai and Ty Lee were there waiting, still in naught but their undergarments. "Now why are you two naked?"

"We got dumped into a river by the Avatar's bison. Our clothes are drying in the engine room." Mai crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against one side of the open tram.

Ty Lee ran out to swallow the princess in a wide hug. "We were getting worried Azula!" She released her after a moment. "We found your Komodo Dragon but you weren't anywhere to be seen."

"Yes well… The creature seemed to run off after I dismounted." Azula crossed her arms behind her and glanced back over her shoulder, the town was still quite ablaze. "Probably was for the best all things considered." The princess smirked a little and strode into the train.

The Captain was waiting just within the train, he struck a pose and saluted the princess. "Welcome back princess." He broke his salute and smiled. "I must confess… I was worried."

Azula smirked a little and tossed her hair to one side. "You shouldn't have been."


	22. Girl Time

"So Azula how what happened with your fight with the Avatar?" Ty Lee curiously asked the obvious question as she flipped herself back up to the top bunk. They were back underway, but no longer possessing any real heading they were just sort of looking for a way around the river the Avatar had escaped over.

Mai sat glumly on the bottom bunk, the blankets thrown over her legs as their clothes were still drying out. Or at least they hadn't been to fetch them yet. "I don't suppose anything interesting happened."

"No you're right Mai. It was fairly dull. I though depriving him of sleep would make the Avatar a more interesting target, but he didn't ever realize who I was when we met… And then my brother showed up and the whole thing just sort of fell apart." Azula sighed a little, sitting on the back of her bed and toying with her nails as she listened to the train rumble.

"Zuko was there?" Mai actually sounded interested now. It was really a shame how pitifully she hid her attraction to the Prince, though it did have its uses so Azula couldn't really complain.

"Hmm?" Azula mocked concern and glanced over at the Goth. "Oh yes, Uncle Iroh made an appearance too but I don't think we'll be seeing them again anytime soon."

For once Mai showed some emotion, first apparent heartbreak, than cold disregard. "Why? What did you do Azula?..." And perhaps a little hatred, just a little.

The question did just begged to be answered though, Azula smirked a little. "Oh don't be so dramatic Mai." She teased. "Zuko's fine, Uncle underestimated me, so I thought I'd teach him a bit of a lesson. A bolt of fire to the chest, he'll probably have a nice scar, but nothing serious." The princess smirked a little more as her dower friend released her held breath. "Zuko will likely be laid up tending to him for at least a week, maybe more. Which reminds me we should have someone sweep through the area and pick them up while we pursue the Avatar."

Mai leaned back in her bunk a little, relaxed in the knowledge that Azula hadn't done something horrible to her brother, yet.

"Well so that's nice, you got to see Zuko and your Uncle." Ty Lee decided to intervene before her friends started fighting for real.

"I suppose…" Azula rolled her fingers about her bangs.

An awkward silence held about the cab for a little too long to be comfortable. Ty Lee actually started stroking her braid, trying to think of something to talk about and keep her friends from killing each other, literally or figuratively. When there was a pleasant break to the silence.

The Captain walked in with a large tray of rice cakes, much a kind to the manner a parent might offer their children snacks after a vigorous day. "I don't suppose you girls might be hungry." He said with a smile, walking the tray over to the princess first, and then the bunk bed's residents.

The princess frowned a little but took one of the sticky cakes; taking a bite and watching the Captain pass them over to her friends. "You know Captain… you've really taken to caring for us these past few 

weeks, it does have its enjoyable qualities but lately it has been growing…" She took another bite. "Irritating."

"Yeah Tatsu, it's like you've become our mom, it's really nice of you." Ty Lee said with a smile as she chowed down on a pair of rice cakes.

"Yeah. I always wanted to have a mom with a goatee." Mai had a shadow of a smirk as she actually made a, rather dower, joke, snagging one of the sticky rice cakes and nibbling on it lightly.

"Why lady Mai did you just make a joke?" The Captain smirked a little as the dower girl pouted into her rice cake. "But I understand." He turned to Azula and bowed. "I shall attempt to temper my concern. You are far from hapless, I apologize."

The princess turned her head slightly, twirling a finger about her bangs as she took small bites of the rice cake she had taken. "Well, that doesn't mean you have to like, stop making us snacks an' stuff does it?" Ty Lee spoke up a little as she munched happily on the snacks the Captain had provided. Azula rolled her eyes lightly.

"Whenever you find yourself hungry lady Ty Lee, please, don't hesitate to find me." Tatsuya bowed lightly, walking over and laying the rice cakes down on the small metal table. "I'd best be returning to the engine room now, least we hit something." He turned and bowed to the girls before turning and heading for the door.

Though before he reached it Azula spoke up. "Before you do that Captain would you do me a favor?" She was absentmindedly admiring her nails, having finished her rice cake. "We seem to be lacking a heading with which to pursue the Avatar." She looked up, laying her hands across her lap. "I'd like you to send out requests for any reports on sightings of him, or of my brother, as well as reports on any major Fire Nation plans currently underway. Anything that that little infant of a god might consider interrupting…"

"Of course princess. "The Captain bowed. "Shall I use your signet for the requests princess?"

"That'll be fine Tatsuya. Oh and find someone in the area to pick up my uncle and brother would you?" Azula leaned back a little and began curling her bangs about a finger again. The Avatar had slipped through her fingers twice now, and worse, if he were to ally with her brother the two of them might actually prove indomitable...

At least Zuzu hadn't figured that out yet. Not with his little tantrum when they'd offered to help with Iroh's new found 'condition.' Her brother wasn't likely to be moving about too quickly, not if he wanted to keep his Uncle in toe. Of course she supposed Zuko could ditch their uncle, but that seemed just a little too heartless for him. Azula would've done it in a flash, but her brother was a long way from being anything like her. The princess smirked a little.

The real problem was this new Earth Bender the Avatar seemed to have added to his pack. They hadn't of performed any Earth Bending when she'd encountered them in New Ozai, but twice now since. It was that little one. She'd seen it standing there when Zuko and Iroh and the Avatar had all surrounded her. It was hard to tell if it was a boy or a girl, but regardless it proved to be difficult. Now all the Avatar had to learn was Fire Bending.

Well at least there was no chance that he could learn that. Every Fire Bender in the world was either an enemy of the Avatar, or a man without a country. Even dear Zuzu still thought that capturing the Avatar would earn him their father's praise. At this point he'd have to conquer the entire Earth Kingdom single handedly for their father to accept him. But enough of that for now, Ty Lee was saying something.

"Hmm? What was that Ty Lee?" The princess turned her head slightly, her hands laid crossed over her chest.

The gymnast looked up from leaning over her bunk to peer down on Mai. "Oh. I just asked Mai what book she was reading, that's all." She rubbed the back of her head, sitting up now.

"Oh, as you were then." Azula wave a bored hand in their direction.

"But hey Azula, as long as you're not doing anything else you wanna, I don't know, talk with us about something?"

"Hmm?" The princess perked a brow toward the other girls. "Well, I suppose I don't have anything better to do… So why not. What do you want to talk about?"

"Eeee!" Ty Lee squeaked and clapped her wrists together in a mild fit of glee. "Let's talk about boys!" She said with a great smile.

"Oh god no. Let's not." Mai said closing her book and laying it in her lap. "The last thing I need to endure is countless hours of you going on about every boy you've met in the past month, while Azula points out every one of their flaws and denies being attracted to anyone outside her own family."

"Well what about you Mai." Ty Lee leaned down over the edge of her bunk again. "You've been crushing on Azula's brother for like years now." Mai quietly blushed and looked at the wall.

Azula smirked a little. "Well she is right." Both girls looked at the princess to try and discern which she was siding with. "We've little to talk about in regard to boys." Ty Lee pouted as the princess sided with Mai. "And Mai has carried a flame for Zuko for years now." Mai blushed a little more and turned back toward the wall. Ty Lee giggled a little.

"Well what do you think we should talk about Azula?" Mai turned back to the room, less red now.

"Hmm…" Azula perked up a little and absentmindedly looked up. "Well what are you girls going to do when this is all over? When the Avatar and my brother are captured and locked away?"

"Hmm that's a good question." Ty Lee tilted her head to one side, scratching her head lightly. "I guess I'll go back to the circus, I was actually pretty happy there. Most people say that circus folk are all kind of strange, but they were really actually pretty nice ya'know?"

"Fascinating truly." Azula smirked a little as she poked fun. "So after all this you're just going to go right back to where I found you? No great reconciliation with your parents, no returning to the Fire Nation to pick up one of the many boys who's hearts were dashed to absolute pieces when you left for 'parts unknown.'" She actually chuckled a little at the look on Ty Lee's face.

"Well what're you going to do once you've captured Zuko and the Avatar?" Mai almost snapped at the princess, clearly she was still a little miffed about the whole Zuko crush thing.

"Hmm… well I haven't really given it much thought… I guess I'll just go back to the Fire Nation, and when the time comes I suppose I'll have to succeed my father. After all with Zuko in prison I'll be the only logical choice." Azula chuckled a little, smirking almost dangerously.

"Hey, what'd you think Tatsu will be doing after he done hanging around with us?" Ty Lee asked, head held in her hands as she kicked her feet back and forth behind her, half leaning off her bunk.

"Humph, well that's a silly question." Azula sat up a little. "He'll go back to whatever post he came from of course."

"And that's it? We never see him again? Seems kind of sad doesn't it?"

"Hmm." The princess stared on ahead, though not really paying attention to what she was looking at. "I suppose it might… from a certain prospective…"

"Well it doesn't have to end that way." Mai actually smirked a little as all eyes went to her, this involved leaning over the edge of the bunk in Ty Lee's case. "After all Azula's the princess of the Fire Nation. If she said Tatsu went back to the Fire Nation with her, than he'd pretty much have to."

Azula smirked at her friend's attempt to anger her. "Well I suppose I could, but I really see no reason in it. After all Tatsuya's just a cook, admitably a particularly good cook, but not one of dramatic note. Really I don't see any reason to associate with him after all this is said and done." There might have been more, remorse in the princess's voice at that moment, but it was quickly scythed away. "Of course we'll have to capture the Avatar first, and dear Zuzu has been trying to do that for years." She smirked a little, "I think we can do it a bit faster, don't you?" Her friends chuckling lightly, well Ty Lee chuckled lightly, Mai just stared, but Mai always just stared.

"Well on that note, I think it's time for a new subject!" Ty Lee jumped up a little and smirked as her two friends turned toward her, well Azula turned toward her, Mai just sort of looked up. "Hair." The gymnast said with a big smile.

Azula rolled her eyes, Mai groaned. Over all, it was a long time till dinner.


	23. Betrayer

I betrayed her… This thought rang though Tatsuya's head again and again. I betrayed her, and I don't deserve to live. He let out a violent curl of flames and the water bender's attack dissolved away. I betrayed her, there's no more reason for me to live. A boulder came soaring through the air, and the Captain ducked rolling out of its path. I betrayed her... So why do I cling to this worthless existence?! Another stone ripped through the air toward him, and was shattered apart by a violent burst of explosive flames.

The crowd cheered as he fell to his knees. They wanted to see fire fall, they wanted to see him beaten, to see him bloody. They wanted to see him Dead.

Tatsuya struggled to catch his breath, and closed his eyes. I betrayed her…

"Tatsuya I want you to stay here and watch for our signal. I don't know what it'll be yet but I'm sure you'll know it when you see it. And when you do I want you to send every hawk you can get your hands on to every major general and admiral in the eastern half of the world. You're to use my seal do you understand?"

"Of course princess." It was naught but a fortnight ago that they had encountered the Kyoshi Warriors. It had been the first trace of the Avatar they'd found since their little run in aboard the drill. They'd tracked him to the Si Wong Desert before letting the trail go cold. The princess had been skeptical about entering a vast expansive and uncharted area after the whole swamp incident. Particularly since Fire Bending would be practically useless within a waterless desert.

And then when Azula had heard of the renewed assault on Ba Sing Sei she had known it was just what was needed to lure the Avatar out again. After all, should Ba Sing Sei fall, the war would be virtually won. And it was the Avatar's duty to keep the Fire Nation from winning the war.

They had lost the track of him since the drill, but with the princess was clever, and she knew that as the Kyoshi Warriors could get closer to the Avatar than they would ever let any Fire Nation assault. Vibrant red armor and massive coal clouds aside, the Avatar knew who they were, if only by reputation, and that would prevent any chance of getting close enough to capture the boy god.

But if the Warriors were to be believed, and Azula was fairly confident that they could, she had been very… persuasive, than the Avatar was without his bison, and they were to deliver it to him in Ba Sing Sei.

Now the city itself posed a bit of a problem. No Fire Bender had set foot within its walls since her uncle had first cracked them some years ago. But without that cursed flying bison, the Avatar would have no choice but to stand and fight. Demi-god or no, Azula was fairly certain she could take the monk in a fair fight, and if not there was the little fact that she seldom fought fair.

"Ooh this is going to be so much fun." Ty Lee wriggled in excitement as she delicately painted Mai's face in the same manner that all Kyoshi Warriors did.

"Sneaking into the most heavily guarded city in the Earth King, wherein if our identities are discovered we will be imprisoned, likely tortured, and executed, is fun to you?" Mai felt she needed to dampen the gymnast's spirits a little.

"Well when you put it like that…" However impossible that may have been.

Azula rolled her eyes at her friends, and turned back to the Captain. "I apologize for having to leave you behind Tatsuya, but none of the Kyoshi Warriors' uniforms are big enough for you."

"That's quite alright princess." Tatsuya smirked a little. "I must confess I had mixed feelings about cross-dressing anyway, essential to the mission or otherwise." He laughed a little, earning him a light smile form the princess, before he coughed into a fist and bowed to her. "I will do all that I can to support you from outside the city princess, I promise." He rose and smiled. "And please if there's any sign of trouble or discovery send a hawk as soon as you can. I'm certain your father would commit all his forces to cracking the walls of Ba Sing Sei once again to ensure your safety princess."

Azula played with a lock of her hair absentmindedly as the captain spoke. "You clearly don't know my father." She smirked a little. "But your concern is dually noted Captain." She glanced back to ensure that her friends were otherwise engaged before continuing. "And I promise you that I'll be fine." She smiled softly at him for half a second before turning on her heels. "It'll take more than the walls of Ba Sing Sei to keep the Avatar from us." She said with a smirk strolling over to her friends.

"That's right!" Ty Lee added in enthusiastically, jumping a little and waving her makeup brush around a bit.

"Woo hoo. Team spirit and face paint." Mai was a little less energetic, settling for twirling a finger about as she sat in the belly of the train.

It had been a noteworthy battle, but ultimately their leader was felled by the combination of the three talented Fire Nation girls. And the arrival of Tatsuya in a large metallic Fire Nation assault vehicle hadn't hurt either. The Kyoshi Warriors had ultimately surrendered once it became apparent they had lost.

Afterwards there had been a rather colorful exchange of words, and a more that awkward moment when Azula ordered the Captain to procure a trio of uniforms from the prisoners. The choice of having Tatsuya be the one to take their uniforms from them had partly been because the princess enjoyed tormenting people, even Tatsu, but also because she didn't want the Warriors thinking they cared about little things like their privacy.

It was an interesting trip back to the nearest Fire Nation camp.

But for now they were on their way to Full Moon Bay, another tidbit of information 'acquired' from the Kyoshi Warriors. Of course they couldn't siege the ferry port, from what they'd heard it was half underground and well defended with Earth Benders. Seizing it would do little good to get them past the walls anyway. But of course, the Kyoshi Warriors had a standing seat aboard the ferries, a little gift for their time playing guard.

The train rumbled to a halt, they were still a ways from the bay, but best not to let even a rumor of their presence out if they wanted to sneak in under the guise of the Kyoshi Warriors.

"Alright Captain you know the plan." Azula turned to Tatsuya her arms crossed behind her back as she stood ready and armored in the Kyoshi Warrior uniform. The irony that they were pursuing the Avatar disguised as warriors named for the Avatar did not escape her. "We'll be gone for several days. You are to wait here for word until further notice. You are not to leave here until you receive word is that clear?"

He smiled back at her bowing. "Of course princess, I shall remain here until your word arrives."

"We'll miss you Tatsu!" Ty lee ran over and cave the captain a big hug, trying not to muss her new makeup as she did so.

"Yeah. It's been fun." Mai even got in on the goodbyes. "I have to admit I've kind of gotten used to your cooking." She smirked a little, though she stopped as soon as Ty Lee noticed.

The Captain smiled at the two girls. "Well upon your return I shall be sure to prepare a victory feast to celebrate."

"Yes well, enough sappy goodbyes. Mai, Ty Lee." Azula glanced to each of the girls and strode right through her friends and out of the train. Mai and Ty Lee followed her.

"Bye Tatsu!" Ty Lee waved back. "See you after we capture the Avatar!" She blew the Captain a kiss, and he blushed a little as he waved back.

Azula's brow twitched just a little. "Come on Ty Lee, the ferry's waiting…" The princess started off into the cliffs that surrounded the hidden bay, leaving the Captain behind with the train.

Mai sighed a little as she followed. "Ya know when you came to me and told me you wanted my help tracking down and catching the Avatar you failed to mention that it would involve dressing like a clown and trudging though wilderness Azula."

"Awh come on Mai, try and look on the fun side of things for once, how often do you get a chance to ride a ferry?!" Ty Lee didn't seem to quite grasp the greater implications of where exactly it was that said ferry was going to be taking the three Fire Nation nobles.

"A boat on water… This is me being thrilled." Mai sarcasm however was working perfectly fine as she twirled a finger in mock excitement. Ty Lee pouted at the disguised Goth girl.

The first week they were gone there was plenty for Tatsuya to do. The Train needed hiding, camouflage nets to be thrown over it, leaves to be gathered, camp to be made. The interior did need cleaning as well, but one can only clean up after a trio of Mongoose Dragons so many times before you grew sick of it.

The girls weren't having much better luck.

"No passports, no tickets!" A particularly crabby lady yelled as she stamped a refusal stamp.

Ty Lee flinched a little each time the stamp came thundering down. Azula was not amused. "Well certainly you can make an exception for…"

"No passports, no tickets. No Exceptions!' Again the angry round woman's stamp came down as she interrupted the princess. "Next!'

"Hang on just a second!" Azula's very short patience was being tried very quickly. If she wasn't in disguise she would've already thrown some fire in this horrible woman's direction."We're the Kyoshi Warrior! We've been protecting this port for nearly a month now. And we need to get into Ba Sing Sei to reunite with our friends!"

The very irritating woman leaned over her desk a little. "No passports, no…"

"Say that one more time…" It was Azula's turn to interrupt. "And I promise you, it won't be pleasant." She glared her patented glare up into the eyes of this horrible woman.

"W-well… I suppose you girls could earn yourself tickets…" She sat back behind the large stone podium that was the source of her powers. "Three days. Work here three more days and you'll each get tickets on the next ferry to Ba Sing Sei, that's a day for each of you."

Azula smirked a little, few people could withstand her patented glare, and even fewer could survive doing so. The princess folded her hands in front of her, and bowed. "Thank you. The Kyoshi Warriors promise to do our best to keep this port safe from the Fire Nation." She had no idea how much she sounded like the actually Kyoshi Warriors at that moment.

"Yeah sure whatever, just change out of those ridiculous outfits. What do you think this is?! Some kind of costume party?!"

The second week they were gone the Captain still found things to busy himself. There were holes in the Train's camouflage, there was hunting to do to stock up on supplies, mostly meats to feed the Mongoose Dragons. Midweek some refugees stumbled onto his camp, luckily he had taken to not wearing full armor, and they never noticed he was Fire Nation even after he pointed them in the direction of the ferry port.

The Princess's team were doing a might better by then.

"Mmh, smell that ocean air." Ty Lee took a deep breath leaning out over the edge of the ferry.

"It's not ocean. It's a bay. I doubt it's even salt water." Mai was just leaned against a wall, working very hard at looking unpleasant. Of course it wasn't hard wearing the ferry port guard's uniform, whoever decided swamp yellow was an authoritative color…

"Hey do you think we'll see the Serpent of Serpent's Pass?!" Ty Lee was really just enjoying this whole thing far too much. Although considering Mai and Azula weren't enjoying it practically at all it pretty much balanced out.

"You'd better hope not." The three girls turned as some passing guard interjected into their conversation. Well what could be called a conversation anyway. "The Serpent is a massively dangerous sea creature, it's wrecked more than a few ships in these waters."

"Ooh…" Ty Lee was riveted.

"Sounds terrifying." Mai not so much.

"Oh it is. But don't you worry your pretty little heads." The guard's attempt to hit on the three of them was about as cleverly masked as King Bomi's insanity. "The ferries are designed not to disturb the water, and move across the bay without the Serpent's notice. And even if it does notice us." He flexed a little; Ty Lee was practically hanging off him. "Then we're more than prepared to defend ourselves."

"And you don't have to worry either." Azula smirked a little dangerously. "Because we're more than prepared to defend you too." Even Mai got in a laugh on the guard's expense.

By the third week alone Tatsuya was getting a little fidgety. He'd run out of things to do, and he'd had absolutely no contact with the Princess or the outside world for over a fortnight. He'd taken to practicing Fire Bending in his free time, mostly to just calm his nerves, but he always ended up thinking of some sort of event that could cause the girls to be discovered, and the wind up pacing around his camp for hours. By the end of the week he wasn't sleeping more than a few hours at a time, always waking up to check for a hawk, before calming his nerves a little and going back to sleep, before repeating the process.

It was a better week for the Princess.

"What do you mean you can't find the Avatar?!"

Though not by much.

"We are terribly sorry, but we seem to be having just a little trouble locating your friends." Ju Dee, or at least one of her, smiled and bowed to the three 'Kyoshi Warriors.' "I assure you we are trying out very hardest, and understand the importance of your mission, but if you wouldn't mind just leaving the search to our agents, we wouldn't want anything to disturb the order we've strived so hard to obtain here in Ba Sing Sei."

Azula was getting a headache. "He's a bald ten year-old with a giant blue arrow tattooed on his head. That alone shouldn't be too hard to locate, but when he's the only Air Bender left in the entire world, and you great everyone who enters this city I find it difficult to believe you can't find him!"

"I apologize for the inconvenience. But we are trying as hard as we can to locate your friend, and do request that you leave the search to our agents. You're welcome to stay here in the upper ring until we reunite you with your friend the Avatar."

Azula had never wanted to incinerate someone so much in her life. Of course some of that might've been repressed Fire Bending emotions; not bending for three weeks was more difficult than she had anticipated. It was almost like repressing part of who she was… Ah well it was only until they found the Avatar. Which speaking of… "Listen to me very closely you bubbling grinning machine girl. We have very important information about the location of the Avatar's bison, and the sooner he gets it the sooner the war can end. This is of the utmost importance do you understand?" The disguised princess loomed over the Ju Dee, who just grinned back.

"There is no war within the walls of Ba Sing Sei." She said with a painful smile.

"Leave. Now." Azula practically slammed the door on the bubbling whatever she was. "Uhg… she's worse than that horribly stamp lady…"

"I don't know. The stamp lady was pretty bad." Mai actually smirked a little.

"I wonder how she smiles so much…" Ty Lee attempted one of the Ju Dee's smiles, but ended up rubbing her cheeks. "Ow…"

By the start of the fourth week Tatsuya was pulling his hair out, in some cases literarily. His mind was beset by all manner of images of what could be happening to his princess behind the great walls of Ba Sing Sei. Why hadn't she contact him. She should've found the Avatar by now. It had almost been a month. There had to be a reason…

"What if she'd been capture? What if she'd been discovered?" He rambled to himself pacing back and forth about his camp. "No no… the capture of the Fire Lord's daughter… heh, they would've announced something like that…" He calmed for a moment. "But what if they have her, and they're not announcing it…" His mind raced. "They could be… No… She could be… No no, the Princess is strong than that…" Again he calmed. "But what if she isn't?" Pure terror flashed across him for a moment. If the princess wasn't as strong as she thought she was, if she'd been capture, discovered, and the Earth King wasn't announcing it.

He tossed his head in his hands and snatched up his halberd. "That's it. I'm going to Ba Sing Sei to find her." He slashed the bolt to the Mongoose Dragon cage, and marched out of his camp, heading toward Full Moon Bay, wearing naught but dirt stained cloths, leaving his Fire Nation uniform behind. "To help her…"


	24. Doubt

As it turned out, getting into the ferry port wasn't as hard as one would've thought it would've been. The problem was getting a passport. 'No passport no ticket' after all.

"Man that lady's annoying." Tatsuya muttered under his breath as he wandered the refugee encampment. It was surprising how many people were camped out here, of course it was the only way into Ba Sing Sei but he'd sort of pictured it as more of a transit point, it appeared to be more of an encampment.

Complete with thieves apparently… Tatsuya shifted his weight a little, planting his halberd's back end between the legs of the man behind him and then with a twirl of the staff he sent the would-be thief spiraling onto his back. A second circle of his halberd and the thief was starring down the blade. "Don't do that." The captain said with a bored tone, though a menacing look in his eyes.

Then something strange and unfamiliar happened. People started applauding him. Impressed with his skill with his halberd, the hopeless refugees of this place were applauding him. Tatsu blinked lightly before lightly rubbing the back of his head, he didn't really know what to do, and he didn't really want all these people looking at him.

"What's going on here?!" The port guards ran up, some drew their swords when they saw him standing there with a huge metallic spear, but upon arriving they sort of relaxed.

"This man tried to pick my pocket." Tatsuya gestured to the muddy man lying on the ground.

"Ahh, another pickpocket huh? Well we appreciate your help in this matter. You can stand down now." They didn't really phrase standing down like it was a suggestion.

"Yeah, right." The captain had better things to be doing anyway. He twirled his halberd, intent on sheathing it on his back, but noticed half way through the twirl that his sheath was attached to the back of his armor, which he wasn't wearing. He sighed a little and set his mind to the task at hand.

He needed to get a passport. The problem was how did he go about doing that? He supposed he could steal one, but first he'd have to find someone who had one, and they were all behind the wall to the ferries. There was a legal method of getting a passport, but judging from the masses of refugees waiting in line, such method was both very long and arduous, or it was very difficult to actually get one. Both of which were things that the Captain couldn't afford to waste time.

Every moment he wasted here was a moment Princess Azula could be… He shook his head, he couldn't think of things like that, they made him nervous, and he couldn't afford to get nervous, not while the Princess's life could be on the line.

Of course it wasn't. In fact at the moment Azula was threatening lives as she bided her time within the walls of Ba Sing Sei. The three 'Kyoshi Warriors' were being treated to a spa day on by Ju Dee, and as the princess put it, why not enjoy their forced reprieve. The princess was used to being pampered, all the fussing reminiscent of the palace, and Mai remained as dower as ever, but Ty Lee was practically bubbling over with glee and girlish delight.

Tatsuya was having less fun. He'd walked one full circle around the refugee camp, and though he hadn't seen half of it, it was clear that there wasn't any way for him to sneak onto a ferry, not that he was entirely surprised, there were hundreds of refugees here, if there was a way to sneak onto a ferry it would've been found long ago, and if there was a simple, jumpable, gate they would've run it by now.

He supposed that he could start a fire and try to sneak past the guards in the chaos. Though that would likely cause more questions than necessary and unless perfectly timed he risked destroying a ferry in the process, or hurting some of the refugees.

Wait. Why did he care about the refugees? They were enemies of the Fire Nation, they were the people who had shunned him for simply being what he was, they were the people he should hate. Weren't they?

Well, he'd have to figure that out latter, one of them was looking interested in him. "What do you want?" He half turned to look at, what he assumed was a woman, though she looked a bit more like a bear, she was wearing what looked to be hog-monkey pelts, complete with one of their heads on her left shoulder. Though more interestingly she had a large crescent sword, and didn't have it drawn.

"My name's Xan, I'm the leader of the Zhang." She put her hand on her hips like that was supposed to be intimidating.

"How nice for you, I care why?" Tatsuya turned the rest of the way to point his pole-arm at this stranger.

"You're looking for a passport right? Well I think we can get you one." The Captain relaxed a little, and swung his halberd over his shoulder. "Come on, there's someone you need to meet." Xan turned and started walking into the center of the refugee camp; Tatsuya shrugged a little and followed her.

At least things were looking, different, he wasn't yet sure if this person he 'needed to meet' was going to be a good thing or a bad thing, but worst case scenario he could probably bend enough fire to cause a panic and rush the guards. The problem with that plan was running a ferry by himself, and running the risk of being sunk before he got to the wall, or being imprisoned once he did.

No his best chance at getting into the city unnoticed was to slip in with another group of refugees. Maybe these Zhang people were the solution.

Then Tatsuya looked around. What greeted him was such a mixed sight that for a moment he had to doubt he was actually seeing it. It was as if someone had taken two different spectrums of civilization and mixed them together. There were at least three tents that looked stitched together, and more or less matched him impression of where this Xan woman would've camped. But beside there were a small handful of soft white tents, complete with their rain tarp put up over them, in an underground cave! Maybe these Zhang weren't the best choice in allies, they seemed to be a little, bipolar.

He was lead to a large neat looking tent, and when the burly looking woman pulled the tarp aside he say something he most definitely wasn't expecting. There was a very neat and trim old man, white hair and a recently cut short beard sitting behind a very neat desk doing paperwork. "Ah there's the young halberdier now. Please have a seat." The odd old man offered a chair just to the side of the center of the tent, and just across the desk from him.

Xan just sort of stormed in to kind of hunch in the corner. Tatsuya slowly walked in and took a seat, leaning his halberd on the side of the chair. "Yeeah… who are you?" He said looking around skeptically. These two were very odd, and this was coming from someone who'd just spent the past months with Mai, Ty Lee and Azula.

"Oh well how rude of me." The old man coughed into his hand. "I am Hakuraman, leader of the Gan Jin; it's a pleasure to meet you." He smiled as if Tatsuya should know who he was.

"Tatsuya Shouhei…" The Captain didn't, nor did he see any reason to use an alias. Sure his name wasn't as common as some, but he was a no name bottom ranked soldier, even if someone knew where to look for proof he was in the Fire Navy, they'd have a hard time finding it. "I beg your pardon, but should I know who you are?"

The old man laughed lightly, but only for a moment. "Ah yes well. I suppose you are a recent addition to our little refugee camp here. Ahem, allow me to explain. Sometime ago the forefathers of the Gan Jin and Zhang tribes ran into a… rather nasty misunderstanding, now until a recent rectification of this… erroneous history thanks to the Avatar the Gan Jin and the Zhang have reunited into one tribe."

"For better or worse the Jin tribes have never been so prosperous." Xan took over, though the Captain's interest in this history lesson was, minimal. "Our two people left for Ba Sing Sei as one people, and along the way discovered that our… unique talents happen to be, complementary…"

"Yes well…" Hakuraman coughed into his hand again. "Since then we've become quite the influence people. But even for us it proved difficult to shall we say, acquire enough passports for all our people to cross at once."

"Okay…" Tatsuya was starting to grow very suspicious of these two; they were starting to sound like gangsters.

"Look Tatsuya, you seem like a decent enough fellow, so I'm going to be honest with you." The old man leaned over his desk a little. "We've been left in a rather difficult position. Most of our people are already in the city, while our leaders, Xan and myself, have remained behind to keep things orderly, and our tribes' recent success may have, ahem, ruffled a few feathers shall we say?"

"What Mr. Longwinded here is trying to say is he wants you to tag along with us on the ferry and into Ba Sing Sei to make sure nobody gets any big ideas about shortening anybody's neck." Xan was a bit less patient, and thankfully so, all this double talk was starting get annoying. This Hakuraman character could use to meet Princess Azula and take a lesson in double speak.

But it did beg the question. "Just what is it that's made you so… prosperous?"

Hakuraman chuckled nervously. "That's for us to know, and for you to keep people from finding out." Xan answered.

"Fine by me. So long as I get paid and get into the city I couldn't care less what you have me doing." Tatsuya was perhaps colder than necessary, but he didn't really want to get friendly with these people. Not because of their shadiness, but because of his own.

"Speaking of the city… Just why is it that you desire to get into Ba Sing Sei?" The old man delved for information in what he certainly seemed to feel was tactful.

"Do you really need to know that?" Tatsuya knew he was no good at lying, but he also knew that 'to find Princess Azula of the Fire Nation' wasn't exactly going to go over well.

"Yes, we do." Xan clearly had the upper hand on the whole, information gathering thing, though she wasn't much more tactful, she was certainly more intimidating.

"I… Previously served the daughter of a noble family," That was true enough that he could say it with a straight face at least. "I escorted her to the port but was unable to follow her into the city for reasons beyond my control… I haven't heard from her in several weeks, and I hope to discover why within Ba Sing Sei."

"A noble family? Who? It wasn't the Beifongs was it? Because I heard a pair of their retainers headed to the city." Hakuraman leaned forward, obviously interested, for whatever reason, perhaps he felt he would gain an ounce of prestige employing someone who'd worked for a noble.

"I'd rather not say…" The Captain turned his head slightly, hoping that they would leave it at that. He knew he was a horrible liar, the Princess had told him so…

"Well would you mind telling us at least what it is that you did for this mysterious 'noble family' of yours?" Xan was clearly less impressed, and possibly a little more suspicious than absolutely necessary.

"I have amble combat experience." Also true. "Some light infiltration experience… moderate, uhm, I suppose you could call it espionage… and I can be rather intimidating when I need to be." All true, who knew working under Princess Azula, would have such practical job applications. Perhaps she should start an apprentice program. "I also did some cooking while under my ladyship's employ." Tatsuya smirked a little. "I'm apparently quite good."

"I have to say I'm more and more interested in whom this noble family of yours is…" Xan shifted a little. Tatsuya shifted more.

"Oh come now, I'm certain that were we the previous employers of such… misunderstand-able acts we wouldn't want Our names thrown about for something as simple as references." Hakuraman smiled lightly and seemed to almost dispel Xan's doubts, as he fumbled about his desk for something. "Ah here you are." He slid a small slip of paper over his desk toward Tatsuya. Upon closer inspection it was a simple blank passport. "There's your passport, we'll be expecting to see you tomorrow morning on the next ferry, and you'll understand if we insist that you stick around until then." He chuckled a little.

"Of course." The Captain pocketed the passport, he might have to fill his name in later, but if the guards would let him on the ferry without his name on it, then all the better.

"Make sure you don't lose that." Xan said a little threateningly. "You won't be getting another."

"Of course." Tatsuya stood up and bowed slightly, he had to be conscious of his hands not to instinctively form the Fire Nation seal as he did so. He turned to leave.

"And don't be late." The beast woman snapped lightly. The Captain nodded and ducked out of the tent, though only to walk around behind it and discretely slit a hole in fabric so he could eavesdrop. "I don't know about this 'outside help' of yours Harkuraman… something doesn't smell right about this kid."

"Nonsense, you never liked the idea of getting some additional assistance, and you're probably just upset that he bathes more often than you do."

Tatsuya shook his head and walked away from the tent containing the two. I have just gotten in bed with the most dysfunctional mob family every. He thought to himself as he sighed a little, staring up at the large wall that kept the waters of the Serpent's Pass back, the large stone walls that bore the Earth Kingdom's crest. The same walls that stood between him and his princess, he tightened his the grip on his halberd, stashing his new passport in his shirt.

"I will always serve you first princess." He whispered to himself. It didn't sit right with him, taking a job serving someone else. Not just someone else, but someone from the Earth Kingdom. It felt… treacherous. It felt like he was turning his back on the Fire Nation, on Azula. But what scared him more, was that it didn't feel wrong. Half his blood was crying out in protest, screaming at him in rage, calling him a traitor and a turncoat, but the other half, the half he hated to admit he had, the half of him that was Earth Kingdom. That half of him, the half that normally hated him, that half… felt right. "Know that princess… and be safe."

Meanwhile while Tatsuya was having his first ever identify crisis. Azula was actually enjoying herself.

Well perhaps 'enjoying' was a bit strong of a word. She still wasn't at all pleased with being delayed, or having to deal with this insufferable woman Ju Dee, who seemed to be able to be almost everywhere, making it rather difficult to be spies, but what particularly irked the noble princess was not being allowed to Fire Bend. She'd never realized just how much she used it on the day to day.

No longer was she allowed to simply snap her fingers and ignite torches to light her bedroom, or flick her fingers to snuff them out at night. She couldn't even risk heating her own bath, being uncertain of what was being watched and what wasn't, it was best to simply not risk it.

Come to think of it 'enjoying' was probably the worst possible description of how the princess felt about her current situation.

Though there were advantages. Whoever was pulling Ju Dee's strings was doing their best to keep the 'Kyoshi Warriors' happy while they delayed them. And while their idea of things that young warrior women liked to do in their free time seemed to have sprung directly from Ty Lee's mind, the Princess was making the most of it. She'd even taken to attempting to cook for her trio, although her first few attempts had been tantamount to charcoal, she was improving… slowly. Regardless Ju Dee had begun treating the three to meals at various restaurants, much to Mai's, well, improved dower-ness…

Azula pouted a little as she laid a tray of her latest attempt at the culinary art out for her friends. "Tatsuya made cooking look easy." She said offhandedly as she strolled about their upper ring apartment. The three had just returned from being treated to a dinner by Ju Dee, or whoever her employers were at least, and the princess had decided to make a light snack before she and her friends went to bed.

Ty Lee smirked a little as she crawled over on her hands toward the plate of sushi. "It's so nice of you to make us a snack Azula." She flipped down to sit on her legs and popped one of the small seaweed wrapped treats into her mouth. She then turned a little green and swallowed hard, smirking and rubbing the back of her head as she sort of backed away from the food.

"This is bordering on aggravating…" Azula sort of ignored both the gymnast's comment and reaction. "We've been here too long already and we have neither heard nor seen any trace of the Avatar."

"Well it is a big city…" Ty Lee offered. "Way bigger than anyplace I've ever been."

Azula crossed her arms over her chest and stared out of the small window, looking out onto the glittering nightlights of the expansive Earth Kingdom capital. "True enough I suppose." The city was much larger than any other even the Princess had seen before. Though the Fire Nation didn't have any place like the slums of the outer-ring either. At least that Azula had ever seen. "But I still can't help but feel we should be on our guard… this city is more than it seems…" The princess narrowed her eyes, staring out across the way; she could just make out the forms of two robe sporting men clinging to the roof of a building. Someone was spying on them.

But was it because they suspected them as Fire Nation spies, or simply because they were a new group of questionably aligned warriors? Azula twirled a lock of her hair around her fingers. If they were being watched they'd have to be careful… Which meant that the Azula couldn't risk Fire Bending, at least not publicly, and suppressing her bending was really starting to aggravate the princess.

Well at least she'd found some solace in cooking, it was a covert way to employ her bending, and truthfully the Princess was finding something, almost soothing, about cooking.

"This sushi looks… burnt." Even if the princess wasn't really any good at it.

It was a few hours before the next ferry left. The Jin tribes gave Tatsu the time to 'ready himself' which rather simply translated meant get his things together, which he didn't actually need to do since he foolishly left most of his things behind with the Fire Nation train.

He was really starting to question the wisdom of his whole 'help the princess' plan, or at least setting off on it without doing any actual planning. All he had was the clothes on his back, and his halberd. He didn't even have his bending to rely on, if anyone caught him Fire Bending than he'd be imprisoned and the whole thing would be a bust.

Then again, if he was imprisoned on the ferry they might move him to the prison in Ba Sing Sei, which would likely be where they would be holding Princess Azula.

No, that assumed that the princess had already been captured, he could just assume things like that, if she hadn't been captured… if she hadn't been captured… than she didn't need his help and this whole trip was pointless… worse than pointless. It was treason. She had told him, directly told him to stay behind.

Tatsuya bit his thumb nervously. Just sort of needing something to chew on to take his mind off how many things were wrong with what he was doing.

He took a deep breath and shook his head. He couldn't let himself think like that. If the princess was fine than she could tell him so to his face, at least then he'd be certain she was safe. He was sure her father the Fire Lord would've wanted him to air on the side of caution.

But then again, he'd never met the Fire Lord…

Tatsuya shook his head, and snatched up his halberd.

He had a boat to catch.


	25. The City

"Come on Azula, come out with us." Ty Lee pleaded, vainly attempting to convince the princess to spend a day out in the city with her and Mai. How she'd convinced Mai to come with her Azula would never know. "It's not healthy to spend all your time cooped up inside, even if we are spies."

Azula sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose lightly. Maybe it was the Earth kingdom, or maybe it was like Ty Lee said and it was because she'd been spending all her time inside, but the princess had been getting headaches fairly frequently ever since she'd come to the city. "No…" She paused for a moment, almost as if she were reconsidering her answer. "No that's fine Ty Lee, you two go out and have fun. Buy something other than these dreadful uniforms to wear will you?"

The gymnast beamed back at her and nodded. "You got it Azula." She said with her usual spirit, before turning around and snatching the third member of their friendship from her ornamental place by the door.

Azula sighed lightly and turned toward the large window their logging possessed. She blinked several times attempting to force her eyes to adjust to the uncomfortable twilight that seemed present in every room in this dreadful Kingdome.

She stared out at the city, it was mid day and despite being in the upper ring you could still hear the hustle and bustle of the thousands of people churning about inside the walls. Azula crossed her arms and looked up into the sky, focusing her eyes on the gleaming sun until it hurt.

Azula closed her eyes and sighed quietly. Perhaps it was because she'd been denied Fire Bending while hiding here, or perhaps it was simply because her eyes were sore from living in dusk for the past weeks and feeling something different, even pain, was refreshing, but the quiet burning sensation from staring at the sun felt… good.

Azula sighed again and rubbed her eyes lightly. She'd been sighing a lot more too, and it was starting to annoy her. She was beginning to believe the Earth King had reasons beyond her knowledge to keep 'the Kyoshi Warriors' from meeting with the Avatar.

Well of course he had reasons he wasn't telling her for keeping them from seeing the Avatar. 'We can't find him' was about as unrealistic as the expectation that anyone but the Fire Nation could actually win the war. The princess smirked a little, reminded of what the Captain had once told her. 'There was no way to win, only survive.' That's what the Earth Kingdome was trying to do, survive. Too bad they wouldn't, she would see to that.

The problem was she had no way of finding out what it was they were keeping from her. She might have investigated herself, except that she was certain someone had been tasked to watch her. She could've sent Ty Lee except that she was certain they had someone watching her as well.

Of course it wasn't like she couldn't remove their watchers if she wanted to. But they would be missed eventually, and without knowing how often they were required to check in, or with whom by what procedure or even how strong her opponent was, physically or influentially, acting outside the parameters of her role would be folly. She would just have to lay and wait.

Like what the Captain should've done.

It may have been only the Serpent's Pass, but the cold, damp chill the stuck to the air felt just like that of the open sea. He hadn't been on the open sea in… so long. Not since before he'd met the Princess. He was standing on the stern of the ferry, just watching the fog role by as the ship carried them to the Earth Kingdom Capital. Toward Princess Azula… He wondered how she'd feel about his disobedience…

The Captain shivered lightly, without his armor to guard against the chill, the air was cold.

"You look troubled kid." It was Xan, and for once, she almost sounded sympathetic, but she didn't really have a reason to be there, other than to be checking up on him.

"The world is troubled." Tatsuya didn't even look back. "Aren't I allowed my piece of it?"

Xan smirked a little. "Heh, I suppose you are at that." She walked up next to him, standing beside him as the two of them stared out into the fog. "But cha know, things aren't all that bad. The Avatar's back, I hear he just recently stopped the Fire Nation's latest attempt at entering the city single handed even." She smiled.

"Is that so?" Tatsuya ground his teeth a little, could the Avatar have defeated Princess Azula and imprisoned her within the city? Or was Xan just referring to that fiasco on the drill?

"Yeah, so buck up." She slapped him on the back perhaps a little rougher than was necessary. "The world isn't entirely hopeless yet."

This time it was Tatsuya's time to smirk. The Avatar, hope for what? For a world where he would be despised as a traitor to his country? Or perhaps for his death, for the honor of the Fire Nation? No, the Avatar held no hope for him. His future was in the hands of Princess Azula, he could feel it. "I guess you're right. There is some hope left in the world."

"Heh, told ya so kid. Now get your things in order. We'll be landing soon." Xan smirked, striking him on the back again, pleased that she had lifted his spirits in some manner.

"Right." But still the question lingered in the back of the Captain's mind. What was it he was to hope for? A life with the Princess was impossible. As was any rational hope of staying by her side. So what was he to hope for? What was he to dream of?

Tatsuya smiled a little. Was it wrong to dream of the impossible? He chuckled lightly, just quietly enough to keep from being heard. Perhaps he should ask the Princess when he saw her. But for now, he'd best be getting back to his employers. He sighed a little. If it weren't for the Princess he wouldn't put up with all their bickering. It was no mystery to him why they hadn't found another hired sword willing to work for them…

"Why are we doing this?" Mai glanced around the Earth Kingdom shopping corridor.

"What do you mean why?" Ty Lee was clearly less than thrilled with the dower girl's, well, dower mood. "We're doing this because if we don't Azula will be lonely forever!"

Mai rolled her eyes. "Right… so what are we doing?"

The gymnast pouted back at her friend, you'd think she never listened to her or something. "We're trying to find something that will force Tatsuya to confess his love for Azula when they next see each other."

"There was a weapons shop a few blocks back…" Mai actually smirked a little, mostly because she'd seen some knives she'd thought about getting at said weapons shop, but also because, despite what most people thought, she thought she was funny.

Ty Lee didn't find it quite as amusing. "I was actually think of something more like…" She stared off into the sky and got that starry look in her eyes that signified she was floating off to her own little world. "A lavish ball gown." She sighed a little. "You know the type of things that upon seeing her in, he'll blush and drop to his knees, and then right there, not caring who's there to hear, he'll profess his love for her. And her, swept up in the moment will admit she loves him back…" The gymnast smiled and sighed as she stared of at the little stars sparking in her eyes.

Mai vaguely wondered if her friend had taken too much or not enough of whatever. "Nice story Ty Lee, but it'll never work…" She shook her head discouragingly as her somber monotone snapped the cheery girl out of her sparkle filled delirium.

"Huh? Well why not?" Ty Lee pouted a little, just generally sounding disappointed in reality for not accepting her view of how life should work.

"For starters when was the last time you saw Azula wear an anything-gown?" Mai crossed her arms lightly over her chest and started counting off reasons why her friend's happy little view of the world was flawed. "Even when we were kids she'd wear something more like an armored dress than a gown."

"Ok… well that doesn't mean that it's impossible…" Ty Lee remained optimistic.

"I'm not done yet." Mai remained pessimistic. "There's also the increasingly likely eventuality that Tatsuya and Azula will never meet again."

"What? Why? They have to get together! Their practically made for each other!"

"Think about it. Tatsuya's not in the city, and if the Earth King ever actually lets us meet with the Avatar we'll be traveling in… higher profile than before. Even if Azula even manages to get him a message before we get back home, it'll probably just read. 'Thanks for your help, return to your post.' After all, it's not like her father would approve…" Mai actually sighed a little at this. Not her traditional sighs of boredom or doldrums, but one of almost, disappointment. The Fire Lord, had the final say, always.

"Well…" Ty Lee turned and absentmindedly looked over some of the merchant stalls lining the road. "That doesn't mean we can't at least try… does it?" She didn't sound ready to give up, but did look rather discouraged as she poked through the Earth Kingdom shops half heartedly.

Of course, the Captain wasn't in fact long from entering the city, though technically he already had.

The ferry had docked, and Tatsuya had unloaded his baggage, physical anyway. He hadn't carried much with him. Just his halberd beside him.

Well his halberd and a rather large amount of rather bipolar tribesmen fussing and bussing over which was the best way to carry their leader's things, or whether it is better to stack clothing on top of pottery, 'that it not get ruffled', or beneath, 'that it pads the pots and prevents them from cracking.' The whole argument was giving him a headache. Or maybe that was the people doing the arguing, it was getting hard to tell.

"I'm telling you it won't matter if your clothes are wrinkled if you don't have a pot to cook in!" Xan was practically breathing fire down Hakuraman's neck.

"Pots can be easily mended with a moments spent at a metal worker, but wrinkled clothes can require days of hanging, or worse hours of steaming to be renewed." Hakuraman wasn't budging, he just had his arms calmly tucked into his sleeves.

"Which you can't do, if the pot you were to boil the water in was cracked!" Xan fumed a little before getting an idea. "Tatsuya what'd you think?" She turned to the Captain with a solid glare that definitely warned that he should side with her.

"Yes Tatsuya, do be our mediator." Hakuraman countered with a half cocked browed and a back tilted head. The type that warned he should side with him if he wanted to keep his job.

"Uhm…" Despite his annoyance at their argument, Tatsuya didn't actually have a ready solution, and being ordered around all his life, he'd never much been one for decision making. He tried to think, what would Princess Azula do? Well that was easy, threaten them with bodily harm and then tell them to just pack their things. Which while it probably would've worked for her, the Captain was neither physically superior to either of them, or in charge, which left him with one alternative. "Well… you could, like, have the Xang tribesmen carry the pots, and the Gan Jin could carry the clothes, that way you could each look after what you want to have looked after?..." Compromise.

The two tribe leaders paused for a moment to consider this new idea. Tatsuya took the moment to back away just a little, just encase they didn't like his idea.

"Hmm… it would seem a reasonable alternative. We are after all, one tribe." Hakuraman said, tentatively stroking his beard as he turned toward Xan.

She snorted a little. "Whatever, as long as we don't end up without any unbroken pots I'm happy."

The Captain let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding and smirked, happily lending a hand with the dividing of the two tasks. The train ride into the city had been a little more than crowded, and to be perfectly honest reminded Tatsuya a little too much of being shipped to the front lines. That and the Earth Benders powering it made him nervous. Not that he could've told you why, but they did just the same.

Though such nervousness were quickly swept away once he beheld the city in its entirety, such a massive town, buildings as far as the eye could see, and there, just on the edge of sight, the great walls of Ba Sing Sei, reaching up to the sky and vanishing there. This was the Capital of the Earth Kingdom; this was the city that had held through one hundred years of war, this was where no Fire Bender aside from the Princess herself had seen in over three generation. This was Ba Sing Sei, and somewhere out there, was Princess Azula.

After the initial shock of the city washed away, the Captain sighed. He'd never imagined the city would be this expansive. He didn't even know where to being looking for the Princess.

Well, no, that wasn't true. He knew where to look. He knew of several places to look actually. That was sort of part of the problem. Start in the Upper Ring, where the Princess was likely to be staying, as 'guests of the Earth King' most likely, and he'd invite questions that didn't need to be asked. Start looking for the Avatar and he'd risk finding the boy god, and not have anything to do with him. No way could he capture the greatest bender in the world by himself, let alone deal with the demi-god's friends.

There was a third option. But it was a good deal more, long term, than Tatsuya really wanted to deal in. Make a name for himself, and seek a meeting with 'the Kyoshi Warriors.'

The Captain sighed again. And was then struck in the back by a rather rough and powerful paw, or at least what felt like a paw. "Well kid looks like you got away without having to use that oversized fork of yours." The 'paw' belonged to Xan, who was apparently congratulating him on a job well done. They were in the city after all. "So what cha gonna do now?" She looked out over the edge of the raised train station, surveying the epic view of the city. "Big city out there, gonna be hard to find one little girl."

"Yeah…" Tatsuya was surprised at the sound of his own voice, he found himself sounding more like Mai, than himself. He rubbed his eyes a little; things were getting worse before they were getting better…

"Well if you have no immediate goals, then why don't you come and see our place of business Tatsuya. It's quite the nice little inn, or so I am told." Hakuraman smiled walking up on the other side of the Captain from his counterpart.

"Hey yeah, now there's an actual good idea for once." Xan smirked and threw her arm over the Captain, placing him in something the hovered innocently between headlock and hug. "What'd ya say kid? We'll even give ya a free room for a few nights, the hotels they stick new comers in are little more than rat holes anyway."

"Well… I don't suppose I have anyplace else to go…" Despite the awkward headlock hug he was held in, Tatsuya still managed to put the right amount of thought into his response and though that was deliberate, his voice also held perhaps a little too much sorrow. It was to be a long hard road, before he was to be reunited with his Princess.


	26. Desire

"There it is, the Two Twin's Tavern." Xan smirked a little and roughly struck Tatsuya on the back, pointing to a large, several story structure, built of smooth stone and painted a pure white as to appear marble, with just a light accenting of gold leaf on the windows and second floor balcony. "Don't let her appearance fool you. Mr. Fancy Pants over here won the coin toss for the outside." The Captain smiled back politely. "But despite looking like she does you can still get as stiff a drink as you want, I made sure of that." Xan laughed and lead the way inside.

"Yes… and despite the… boorish interior decorating…" Hakuraman clearly didn't much care for the hog monkey hunting trophy bearing walls, crooked wooden tables, or Zhang Tribe Bartenders. "The Two Twins is still a place where a refined man can enjoy a light beverage to dull the… Grievances of the world," He glanced to Xan. "Before retiring for the evening." Again Tatsuya returned a polite smile.

Truthfully the Captain couldn't help but admire the irony in these two entering into a business that served exclusively alcoholic beverages. He wonders slightly if they served anyone beyond their own tribesmen. "It's a lovely establishment, I'm sure." Tatsuya smiled at the two, trying to ignore the half gone Zhang tribesman bent over the bar's counter a few feet from him. "But I really feel I should concentrate on finding my next job before I… Indulge myself."

Xan smirked a little and once again threw a rough open palm down against the Captain's back. "Nonsense boy, we just paid you, that means it's time to kick back and cool your heels, drinks all around!" She practically forced him over to a table and into a chair beside her. "Sides you've gotta spend some of our money here, how else are we supposed to get it back from you?" She laughed a little as a Zhang tribes-girl brought over a trio of small brown cups containing some variety of semi-clear alcoholic beverage.

"She, for once, has a point my boy." Hakuraman smiled a little as he pulled out his chair and sat eloquently down beside Tatsuya. "Tonight we celebrate reaching Ba Sing Sei, the greatest city in the world." He raised his cup to invoke a toast.

"Here here! Let's drink till dawn!" Xan whole heartedly accepted the toast and down her glass in a single go.

Tatsuya was less enthusiastic, so many things were weighing so heavy on him. Was Azula safe, how would he find her, would she even want to see him if he did, was it the best thing leave the train, or would it have been better for him to just wait things out in the woods.

"Another round over here!" Xan waved to her tribesmen. "We've cause to celebrate! Ahahah…" She laughed hearted and smirked over at her trim counterpart.

"I'm not entirely sure I approve such avid drinking, after all it's hardly dark out." Hakuraman said stroking his beard. "But then again this is a celebration." He smirked lightly and raised his glass again even as the waiter replaced them.

The cheer of the tribe leaders quickly spread through the patrons and tribesmen of the tavern, and it wasn't long before Zhang and Gan Jin, and anyone else who stumbled into the tavern for that matter were well drunk and enthusiastically celebrating, whether they had something to celebrate or not.

The Captain however seemed as immune as Mai, finding himself some glum unoccupied corner beside a small window that looked out on nothing more than an empty ally, and sulking there, only occasionally taking a stalwart shot of his drink to break up the monotony.

He twisted his glass in his hand, and leaned out the window, just enough to block the clamor of the revelry around him, and listen to the calm, almost churning noise of city. Listening, to the anonymous voices of this man, or that girl. Hearing them barter over useless knickknacks, or attempt to sooth a crying child, or plot some crime, of flit with some girl, or complain about something in their lives.

Tatsuya ground his teeth and took another shot of his drink.

These people… they were. He ground his teeth and sought for the word. These people were rotten, ignoring each other, simply because they couldn't stand the world around them. These people were corrupt, caring only for themselves and their safety when the world around them was falling down. These people were… Tatsuya took another shot. These people were, no different from the Fire Nation soldiers.

It had been the same, no matter what platoon or regiment he was assigned to. This same dribble had flowed from the mouths of the soldiers. They'd barter, plot, sooth, flirt and complain just the same. The only difference was that they touted Honor, and these people held no illusions about theirs. Tatsuya took another shot.

No, that wasn't right. It hadn't been the same everywhere. There had been one person, who no matter the element she was placed in, no matter what the world presented her with, she remained the same. She was iron. She was solid, immutable. Princess Azula wasn't going to suffer the world. She was going to remake it.

She was what the Fire Nation idolized. Purity, Determination, Power and Drive. She deserved this world. Even now, in the depths of the Earth Kingdom there wasn't one man, nor woman, that shown with the same brilliant light that she did.

Tatsuya smirked and downed the last of his drink. I'm just a spider-moth. He thought, holding a hand out the window and conjuring a small beating flame within it. I'm pulled to her light, even though it might destroy me. The Captain stared into the flickering light within his hand, he felt it's warm, fed it with his emotion. He wanted to feed it ever thing he had, he wanted to be left hollow by the flame. He wanted it to make him stop…

He closed his palm and extinguished the flame. Still staring at his closed fist, though now he was no longer looking out. His mind raced. What was it he wanted to stop? He could feel the desire to stop deep within him, but he could sort out what it was that he desired. Did his soul wanted him to stop seeking the Princess? No. It couldn't, he'd meant it when he'd sworn his soul to her, and his heart still ached to stand beside her again.

Did he want to stop aching? No. He knew the ache was only temporary, until he found her again, until he felt her presence consume him, until he smelt her hair again, and tasted that sweet scent that followed in her wake.

Then what was it?! What was this ache in the back of his throat! What was this feeling that he couldn't burn away?! Tatsuya slammed his fist into the side of the window, and made enough of a ruckus that those in the tavern quieted and turned to him.

The lull in noise was enough to pull the Captain from his thoughts, and he turned. "My apologize." He bowed lightly. "It's been a long night, if you'll excuse me." He bowed again, and snatching up his halberd from it place beside him, he exited the tavern. Perhaps a night-time walk to cool his temper, before he found an inn to spend the night.

The citizens of the outer rim more or less ignored Tatsuya. Even after sunset, the city buzzed with life. The main streets were lit with hanging lanterns, and the side streets glowed with the light of the city around them.

Of course it wasn't unexpected that the citizens would keep their distance from him. A young man, with long messy hair, a dirty shirt worn for several days in a row already, carrying a large bladed metal pole-arm begrudgingly striding down the city streets in the middle of the night carrying the air of alcohol with him, didn't tend to prompt a conversation.

Although one would have thought that such a character wouldn't have prompted much interest at all. But Tatsuya was becoming increasingly aware of a rather shady looking group following him.

Judging from their formation, the small slimly looking one in the front was the one in charge. He was clearly an Earth Kingdom man, and despite the moonlight sheen cast from his hair, he held himself up. Which is to say, he looked down on those around him, if not literally, than metaphorically.

He didn't look the sort to start something, but neither did he pay any attention to those around him. Tatsuya had seen that sort of disregard before, he'd seen every sort of disregard before, particularly from those in the Fire Nation. With the exception of Princess Azula of course.

This man didn't look at people as, people. He saw prospects. The sort of eye carried by a slaver, or noble grown too used to giving orders. Neither of which meant Tatsuya should bother with him. A slaver wouldn't attack an armed man, even with the other two, who judging from the stride were soldiers, or at least had military training. And a noble wouldn't approach a stranger without good reason.

Of course a noble would also probably have been dressed better and have washed his hair sometime this decade, but this was the Earth Kingdom, and the outer rim. Best they just be ignored until they became a grievance.

First thing was first. Tatsuya needed to find someplace to get a non-liquid meal, and a good night's sleep. And judging from the burning beneath his skin, someplace to wait out the passing of whatever he'd been served at the Two Twin's. It sort of explained how the Zhang and Gan Jin could live together if this haze was from just one cup.

Of course it wasn't as if the Captain had even had alcohol before in his life. Even if he had been as old as the other soldiers, they'd never invited him to drink with them, even after he'd saved them, or done their jobs for them, or done their jobs alone…

They'd always hated him… And they always would, that loathsome pack of misbegotten rats would never accept him. He could come back with the head of the Earth King and they'd probably just laugh. He could kill ten thousand Earth Benders and not a one of them would have anything but contempt to offer him.

Except for Azula. Tatsuya sighed, and felt the old hatred leave his vanes, even past the fact he hadn't noticed it enter. It was so familiar, he could notice it leave, but not enter. Never enter.

He sighed again and looked to the sky. One could hardly see the stars past the chimney fires, and lantern lights, but the moon shown bright.

Tatsuya sighed. He was hungry, and first thing was first. He couldn't find the Princess if he starved to death. A quick glance around and the Captain located a small bustling tea shop, they'd have food, and judging from the business their tea couldn't be horrible either.

The Captain entered and found an empty seat near the door, propping his halberd up again the wall and leaning back, lightly closing his eyes until the server arrived.

"Hi, I'm Lee, what's your order?" The young man was a little cold, but no more than the Captain would've been in his situation.

"House special and an order of dumplings." Tatsuya wasn't exactly overflowing with comradely either, though something about the scarred boy did strike him as familiar. But he shrugged it off, it was probably just the name, there were a million Lees.

"Uncle! One Jasmine, one order of dumplings." The Captain smirked a little, a real mom-and-pop shop. Although judging from the server's scar mom and pop were probably victims of the Fire Nation.

Not that it mattered to him. Tatsuya just ate his food and sipped his tea, waiting for his head to clear and plotting his next move.

Although perhaps plotting is not the correct word. Plotting implies a something sinister, and generally a plot is a bit better informed that just what the Captain was cooking up. A more appropriate term might be, patch-working. As that is about what Tatsuya was up to at that particularly moment. Patching together a fragile semblance of a plan from what little he knew.

He knew the Princess was somewhere in the city. He knew the city was far too large to search by himself. He knew that he couldn't trust anyone in the city with the Princess's true identity. He knew the Princess was under the guise of a Kyoshi Warrior, and he knew there was very little chance he would ever be able to find three girls in a city of, at a conservative estimate over three thousand citizens, probably at least half of which female.

Tatsuya took a sip of his, surprisingly good, tea. What else did he know? He knew the Kyoshi Warriors were seeking an audience with the Earth King, and he assumed, from what he'd seen, that the Earth King would be in the center of the city. It made sense anyway, what with the circular walls the center would be the safest place for the palace.

So the question became, how does one get into the inner ring?

Tatsuya popped a dumpling in his mouth. They were a little chewy.

He could try to sneak into the inner ring. But if the inner walls were half as secure as the outer wall he'd be caught before he even got a chance. He could try to scale the inner wall, but that idea had the flaw of falling to his death and going splat. Something the Captain wasn't too keen on.

Another sip of tea.

He could try to get a job in the inner ring. But short of cooking and killing, there wasn't much he knew how to do. And he assumed the closer one got to the Earth King, the more the public would frown on homicide. Which left cooking, he could try to get a cooking job, perhaps for one of the rich households of the upper ring. But for that he'd need references, and for those he'd need to have impressed the right people, which held the problem of both finding the right people, and finding a reason to cook for them.

It wasn't like he could break into someone's house, point his halberd at their throat and say 'let me cook for you or I kill you.' He popped another dumping in his mouth. While amusing, it would likely land him wherever the Earth Kingdom locked up mad homicidal chiefs. Tatsuya assumed Azula wouldn't be there, wherever it was.

He took another sip of his tea. This was starting to give him a headache. This city was just too big. If he at least had something to go on, then maybe he could have a chance to find the Princess, to stand by her side again.

He popped another dumpling in his mouth. If he just knew if she was imprisoned, or still hidden, or what ring she was staying in, or whether or not she was being watched. If he knew if she was imprisoned he could get himself captured and attempt to meet up with her that way. If he knew what ring she was in he could concentrate on searching it, and if he knew if she was being watched or not than he could ask around town for people who knew the Kyoshi Warriors. But knowing none of these things he was at a dead end.

Tatsuya threw the last of his dumplings into his mouth. At least his payment from those bipolar nutcases would be enough to last him a few days before he'd need to find another job. Of course, there was the question of what sort of job he should look for. He couldn't risk making a reputation as a hired sword if later on he needed to be a chief, or vice versa.

Tatsuya nervously tapped his fingers on the table. If he just knew where she was.

He smirked. If he knew where she was he wouldn't have to look for her. The Captain chuckled lightly, tossing back the last of his tea, before throwing a few crowns onto the table, and leaned back, tucking his hands behind his head.

He stared at the ceiling a little, just sort of watching the flickering light of the torches from inside, and the lanterns outside. The Kyoshi Warriors were most likely somewhere within the upper ring. So he should concentrate on getting into the upper ring for now. The problem was, doing that required money. Like lots of money. Like ten times the kind of money he'd been paid by the bipolar crazy folk, on a regular basis.

And his best chance at getting that kind of money was to go with his strengths. Hurting people and cooking. And Tatsuya decided to go with hurting people on the count of it was more easily applied. Find person with money, hurt them and take money, avoid getting caught. Nice clean simple, he had to feel that Azula would approve. It just felt like something she would approve of.

He surveyed the tea shop. Half the patrons didn't have shoes, which one assumed meant they didn't have enough money to be worth taking, or were Earth Benders and weren't worth the trouble to take their money.

But the trio that had followed him from the Two Twins, appeared to be enjoying a steaming plate of meat buns a few tables down. They would probably have money, and they'd stop following him if he hurt them. It was a win/win.

Tatsuya stood up, grabbed his halberd and walked out toward the exit of the tea shop. He paused in the doorway for a moment, appearing to stretch. This was partly for the benefit of his shadows, so they'd be sure to see him leave, and partly to give him a moment to pick a nice dark, out of the way ally to lead them into, and partly because he actually needed to stretch.

He chose a small dark, not so narrow but not too wide ally sort of crookedly across from the tea shop, and ducked inside. The trio of shadows followed him in shortly after, and were met with a, not too wide but not close enough to be deadly sweep of the Captain's halberd. The sort that would pass just close enough to give your nose hairs a trim, without actually hurting you. Or the kind that would slam into a rock coated forearm with a sickeningly solid thud, as the case may be.

The bodyguards were Earth Benders, didn't that just figure.

But before either side could prepare for a second strike, the greasy little man in the middle of it all held them back. "Wait!" He held one hand out, to halt Tatsuya, and the other arm to his side, holding back his henchmen. "I just want to talk."

Tatsuya sneered a little and relaxed. Two Earth Benders was more than he'd expected, it was sketchy that he could win without his own bending, and even less likely he could do it quickly enough to not attract attention. "And just what might you want to talk about, that you've followed me all the way from the Two Twin's Tavern?"

The small man adjusted himself, he'd half fallen when Tatsuya'd tried to trim his hair. He swept his hair back and smirked. "Well, about your Fire Bending of course…"


	27. Blackmail

"Well, about your Fire Bending of course…"

Tatsuya's eyes went wide as his mind raced. Was it a joke? No he'd just attacked them... Then how did they find out? His mind reeled. He'd held a flame in his palm back at the Tavern, but how could anyone have seen that? No, it didn't matter now. What mattered now was these men had to die.

But the two Earth Benders. He couldn't take both of them and stay hidden, even with his bending. He might be able to take one out, but Earth Bending was such a noisy bending someone would be sure to hear, and if they acquired spectators he couldn't risk bending…

"You're probably planning on how you're going to kill us now." The man smirked again.

Tatsuya growled. "If you haven't already called the guards on me than that means you want something right?" He'd have to play this man's puppet until the opportunity to erase him presented itself.

"Well looks like you didn't get into the city on a fluke." He smirked again. "My name is Master Yu, and I have a bit of a proposition for you."

"Of course you do..." The Captain muttered under his breath. Blackmail was such an ugly thing, at least when one was on the receiving end.

Yu didn't seem to like the sarcasm, and frown distastefully. "You know I might change my attitude if I were you. We wouldn't want the Dai Lee finding out about your little secret now would we?" He smirked again and held his nose slightly aloft.

"The Dai-who?" Tatsuya blinked, clearly the 'Dai Lee' were supposed to be intimidating, and the name seemed familiar but it just completely escaped him.

"You're not serious?" The man looked practically flabbergasted, clearly he'd expected his threat to work a bit better than it had, which it might've if the Captain had known anything about the inner workings of the city, but at the moment that was kind of the problem…

"Care to enlighten me?" The Captain propped his halberd over his shoulder and smirked. Maybe this fool would be worth something after all, he seemed well informed at very least.

"Heh, well… let's just say the Dai Lee are good at making people disappear." He grinned a little and stroked his long whiskers. "But that's nothing for you to worry about… As long as you listen to my proposition."

"And do what you say." Tatsuya scowled a little. "Let's not play around, you're blackmailing me, and considering the… volatility, shall we say? Of the information you've got on me, I'm willing to bet your 'proposition' will be either life threatening, illegal... or both."

Yu laughed lightly. Tatsuya had hit the nail on the head clearly. "I prefer to think of it as, high risk, high reward." He smirked a little, tucking his arms into his sleeves and leaning back.

"Of course I'll be the one doing all the risking." The Captain rolled his eyes. No point in holding your tongue when your opponent had you by the throat right? "So what's this high reward you're talking about?"

"How does getting out of this slum sound? Enough money to get yourself a place in the middle ring, and stay there for a good long time." The man smirked, clearly thinking himself far more then generous.

"I actually had my eyes set a bit… higher, but what's the risk that's so rewarding?" Tatsuya was starting to think this might be a good thing. A pay out like that might be enough to get him into the inner ring, if only for a short while, it'd be long enough to see if the Princess was even there. The Captain threw his halberd over his shoulders and started actually listening to the blackmailer.

"Walk with me." Master Yu smirked a little and turned, showing his back to Tatsuya, completely assured that either he wouldn't strike, or if he did the Earth Benders would stop him before he got anywhere. The Captain grimaced a little but followed the other man besides.

They walked for a short while in silence, just getting some distance between them and the ally where the Captain had already attacked once. "Now then… what's your name, I'd rather not have to call you by your profession."

"Tatsuya Shouhei, and it's not my profession, it's just a remnant of my father…" That was a lie. It was his profession, it was more than just a remnant of his father, it was what he had bound himself to since the day he'd discovered it. It was what he judged himself by, what he thought of himself as. He didn't think of himself as Earth Kingdom, or Fire Nation. He was a Fire Bender, regardless of his heritage.

Only now, he wasn't allowed to Fire Bend.

"You were in the military correct? You carry yourself like a military man." Tatsuya glanced around. "Oh come now no harm in answering that one, there are other militaries you know." Yu chuckled lightly.

Tatsuya grimaced again, clearly this Master Yu was the type of man who appreciated being able to see through people, he liked being the one in charge. The Captain would've loved to introduce him to the Princess. Tatsuya smirked. "Yeah, I was a Captain, before I left."

"Hmm… Captain Tatsuya Shouhei." He tried it out on his lips; though he said it with so much condescension that one would hardly have known he was using a title. "It has a certain ring to it doesn't it."

"Yeah, it's all fine and dandy now would you like to tell me why I'm following you or would you like to stroll around the outer rim commenting on each other's names all night?" Tatsuya had very little patience for this sort of thing, or at least he did at the moment.

It wasn't that he didn't know how to feign respect, that talent he was well versed in. It was that he didn't care to bother with this man. He was small, greasy, and shaped like a Daikon Turnip. And while Tatsuya bore no particular resentment toward subterranean vegetation, one had never tried to blackmail him before.

"Straight to the point hmm? I can respect that."

"I'm seriously going to have to kill someone…" Azula growled pacing back and forth within the large apartment the Dai Lee had provided for 'the Kyoshi Warriors.' "They have to be stalling us for a reason…"

"What was your first clue?" Mai sat, well reclined in the windowsill, twirling a knife about one finger. "Was it the, we're having trouble finding the Avatar, or the please wait just a little longer every day?"

The Princess ground her teeth a little. "This doldrums we're being forced to endure is infuriating." She paced back and forth a little more, arms crossed tightly over her chest. "But even more than that… Our entire lack of ability to do anything about them, our inability is infuriating." Azula raised a hand to her mouth, and used her tallonous nails to pick at her teeth, an ineloquent habit she'd acquired since being robbed of her Fire Bending by circumstance. "If only there were someone we could use to gather information, someone who could tell us just what it is that those delaying us were thinking."

"Someone like Tatsu?..." Ty Lee giggled a little, leaning out of the doorway to her bedchamber. She was dressed up for some sort of occasion. Beyond the normal black and green of a Kyoshi Warrior, she wore a, recently purchased, almost golden green silk robe, her hair was up in her usual long braid, and absent was the signature face paint of the Earth Kingdom warriors.

"What are you all dress up for Ty Lee? Got a big date tonight?" Azula chuckled a little, tactfully, or perhaps not so much, changing the subject.

"Actually I do." The gymnast was clearly please with herself. "I met this lovely boy… uhm… Wai Gin or… Gin Way or something like that... anyway he's taking me to dinner tonight."

"You can't even remember the name of the guy who's taking you out? Don't you think that's probably a bad thing?" Mai had actually stopped spinning her dagger, a sign that she was at least somewhat interested.

Ty Lee shrugged. "Hmm. Probably, but it's not like it can get serious or anything. After all he thinks I'm a warrior girl from the island of Kyoshi." She smirked a little, just sort of standing around waiting for her date to show up. "Although I have to admit, I kinda like being a Kyoshi Warrior, it's fun to dress up in uniform isn't it?"

"Yeah, just oodles of fun." Mai went back to spinning her knife. Azula went back to pacing angrily about the apartment, and Ty Lee's date showed up after a couple of minutes, it turns out his name was Lang Lee, but Ty Lee never was one to sweat the details, and he didn't seem to mind.

Eventually the Princess settled down and just leaned against the wall just past Mai's chosen windowsill. Azula pouted lightly and sort of eyed the door like a predator. "I really don't see what men see in her…" She said, before looking to her dower friend for a response, after pausing for a moment to decide if she really wanted one.

Mai blinked a little and looked around before she pieced together that Azula was actually talking to her. "Oh, you're talking about Ty Lee?" It took her a moment to catch up to the Princess's train of thought, partly because she didn't really care what men thought of Ty Lee, or what Azula thought of what men thought of Ty Lee, but she was being drafted into a conversation anyway so she figured she might as well roll with it. "I don't know either, maybe guys go for the upside-down aura sensing type these days." Mai shrugged a little. "Best just to ignore it. Guys just do what they want anyway…" She sighed lightly.

"That's not true." Azula sounded more like she talking to herself than to Mai, but then again, Mai didn't really care. "Not all men just do whatever they want…" She paused for a minute to try and convince herself of that.

Truthfully Azula's primary experiences with men had been limited to her father, the Fire Lord, who, did in fact do whatever he wanted all the time, her brother Zuko, who she hadn't seen for three years and was now a fugitive from his homeland, and the small handful of ill fated suitors whom attempted to do whatever they wanted, and got ignited for it.

"Do they?" She turned toward her friend, while she'd never heard of Mai having a boyfriend, while Ty Lee had had several hundred, Mai was always reading, and at least she was sensible enough to carry a conversation with multiple levels.

"Well, Tatsu's an exception." Of course there was the mild draw back that Mai didn't really much care for layered conversations…

"What?!" Azula actually blushed a little. She wasn't entirely herself at the moment; personally she blamed not being able to bend. She had enjoyed the privilege of controlling fire since she was a child after all, and it was a hard thing to quit cold turkey. "W-what makes you think I'm taking about Tatsu-ya?"

Mai actually smirked. It was refreshing to know Azula wasn't as perfect as she tried to be. "Face it, you've been off ever since we left him in that godforsaken forest."

Azula took a moment to regain herself, brushing a stray lock form her face. "Well, it's not like his absence is the only difference between then and now… We're in Ba Sing Sei now for example."

"While I do concede that they seem to put something in the water here, that's not my point, and you know it." Mai slipped her legs down on the windowsill, to shift from laying in it, to sitting on it. "Face it Azula, you've been different since we left him behind. Ba Sing Sei or no Ba Sing Sei." She crossed her arms over her chest, somehow mysteriously vanishing the knife she'd been spinning in the process.

Azula slipped a hand to her chin, and thought for a moment. Had she really been that different? Sure she'd been a little on edge maybe, but they were in the heart of the greatest Earth Kingdom stronghold in the world, and she was the daughter of the Fire Lord, it would've been irresponsible not to be on edge. And while perhaps she had been acting… a tad out of character, she'd been blaming that on being denied Fire Bending.

It couldn't have been that she'd been… missing Tatsuya. Could it?

"I don't know what you're talking about Mai. I've just been a little tired and frustrated with these delays in finding the Avatar is all." She crossed her arms over her chest and nodded. "In fact, I think I'll go take a nap… Be a dear and ask Ty Lee to be quite when she gets back would you?" Azula wasn't really asking as she strolled off to her bedchamber.

Mai lay back out in her windowsill and started tossing a knife into the roof. "If she gets back…" She sighed lightly.

"You see young man I represent a group of individuals of unique interests. I suppose you could call us a gaming society, although our interests run far from simple Pai Sho." Master Yu chuckled lightly to himself. "We happen to be interested in something a bit more dramatic, a game of our own design, a game we like to call, Battling Benders." He smirked deviously and leaned in, as if even mentioning the game's name was enough to invoke conspiracy.

Tatsuya rolled his eyes, such a name. "And you want me to participate?"

"There are several regular Earth Bender participants, even a few Water Benders traveled here from the North Pole," Yu stopped walking, striking a pose and grinning at Tatsuya like he was looking at the golden goose. The two benders joined in, striking a couple of poses, they were quite possible two of the 'Earth Bender participants' mentioned. "But never a Fire Bender."

Tatsuya snorted a little. As if there wasn't a reason for that. "So I play your battle game and you keep my secret for me?" He half turned from the group, none too pleased with the looks, and took a moment to survey the area. It was darker, less trafficked than before. He might fight them here. No, they were too close to the Middle Ring, guards could hear, or worse, these Dai Lee Yu had mentioned. Tatsuya'd have to play along. "I have a counter offer to propose." He turned back to the group. "Keep your money. I play your game, and you help me find someone in this city. You get paid, and I find who I'm looking for, sounds like a win win to me."

Yu frowned a little, though it wasn't a true frown, it was more, an unexpected frown. It didn't seem he knew people could turn down money. "Hmm…" He stroked his whiskers and beard a little seemingly thinking the new bargain over. "Come with me." He turned, and walked straight into a large wooden structure, an inn from the looks of it, and an upper class one at that… Well as upper class as you got in the Outer Ring.

Tatsuya followed him in, more out of interest than obedience now. Apparently 'Master' Yu wasn't the top of the food chain. They were going to meet the top of the food chain. The Captain smirked a little, at least he was moving up in the world, albeit the world of criminal fight clubs and blackmail, up was up.

Master Yu lead him inside, a nod to the inn keep and they were let up a flight of stairs to the rooms, they went up two stories, about halfway to the top, before they turned down one of the door lined halls. They passed a few doorways before Yu pulled a key from his sleeve and turned toward one. He glanced back, passed Tatsuya to the guards; they nodded back and positioned themselves on either side of the doorway. He opened the door.

Inside a dirty abrasive man with no shoes no shirt, a vest and long hair sat with his feet up on a table. He looked up and frowned. "Oh it's you." He leaned to one side looking past Yu to see Tatsuya. The two of them stepped inside closing the door behind them, the guards remained in the hall. "This the Fire Bender?"

Tatsuya frowned. "How many people have you told?" He hissed slightly, not particularly expecting an answer or anything in response, he just wanted his disapproval noted.

Master Yu coughed into his fist. "Ahem… Mr. Shouhei, please allow me to introduce my associate…"e would've continued but 'his associate' interrupted him.

"Xin Fu, hi nice to meet you." Clearly the gruff man hadn't planned on dealing with the Captain, particularly as that was all he said to him before turning to glare at his partner. "Why'd you bring him here?" It was rather apparent that he wasn't happy.

Yu pouted. "He wants to change the agreement. I thought you'd like to have some impute." It was also clear Yu didn't care much for being ordered around.

"Tsk." Xin Fun jumped to his feet, landing on the other side of the small dining table he'd had his feet on. He hooked his hands on his hips and strolled over to glare down at the Captain, he was taller, but not by much. "So. Just what is it about our deal you're not happy with? Not enough money?" He smirked a little, trying to be intimidating.

Again Master Yu opened his mouth, but was interrupted. Tatsuya was already annoyed. What was it about bipolar pairs that drew them to him? Honestly Ty Lee and Mai, The Gan Jin and the Zhang, and now Master Prissy and Mr. Abrasive. "Keep your money. I want you to help me find someone, and help me get out of the city with them."

Yu blinked a little. "Wait, you never said anything about helping you out of the city…"

"And you never said anything about someone else who knows I'm a Fire Bender. The more people who know the more dangerous it is for me." Tatsuya propped his halberd on his shoulder. "Keep telling people and the price will keep going up."

Xin Fu laughed, loud and obnoxious, taking a few steps back to trip/fall over the dining table back into his seat on the couch. "I like ya kid. So who's this you want help finding?"

Tatsuya paused for a moment. He couldn't trust them with the Princess's identity, and asking for help finding the Kyoshi Warriors would invite suspicion. He nodded privately before speaking up. "I want you, to help me find the Avatar."


	28. Midnight

"Hehe… That's so funny Lang." Ty Lee laughed lightly as she returned home. Her date's arm tossed casually over her shoulders. He was a tall, if perhaps a little lanky boy, noble, from the look of his attire.

He laughed back, smirking lightly at the 'Kyoshi Warrior' under his arm. "Haha… Yeah…" He released Ty Lee and sort of strolled out into the apartment. "So, this is where you're staying?" Lang leaned out the window a little, staring out into the cold night. It was truly getting late, most households had extinguished their lights by now, though the air still hung with the scent of wood fires.

Ty Lee walked up next to him, half leaning around him to smile up at him. "Yep, just me and Mai, and our leader Azula, but they're both probably asleep."

"So…" He turned to her, wrapping his arms lightly around her and smiling down at her seductively. "We have the place to ourselves?"

She giggled. "Well… yeah… I guess." And snuggled up into his arms a little.

The two took a moment to look into each other's eyes, before Lang started to lean down, a hand on Ty Lee's chin to guide her into his kiss.

And then Mai spoke up. "Well not exactly."

Both teens jumped back away from each other. Lang was very careful to stash his hands behind his back. It was almost as if someone's mother had walked into the room.

Of course Mai hadn't actually walked into the room. She'd been laying out on the floor throwing sharp metal things into the wall in an attempt to lull herself to sleep. It hadn't been working very well, although her dark robes did work marvelously to camouflage her in the dim moonlight.

"Oh Mai you're up." Ty Lee was the first to state the obvious.

"Despite my best efforts." Mai wasn't in a particularly cordial mood that evening, she didn't even rise to great their guest. But then again, Mai was never in a particularly cordial mood. "Do you mind, you're in my way?" She gestured toward Lang.

He looked around a little and after spying several daggers lodged in the wall behind him, and several more on the floor under the impact zone, he stepped aside. "Oh, not at all, my apologizes."

Ty Lee looked around to make sure Azula wasn't lurking in the shadows as well. "So does this mean is Azula up also?"

"Nawh, she retired early, not long after you left actually." The dower girl tossed a knife between the other two. It sliced quietly through the air before landing in the far wall with a decided thunk. "Far as I know she's asleep." She tossed another projectile, fully aware that the Princess's room happened to be behind the wall she was impacting.

Ty Lee remained blissfully unaware of Mai's attempts to seemingly get herself killed. "So… what are you doing up?" She tried to step over to her date, but was waylaid by another passing dagger.

"Couldn't sleep." She answered tossing another blade. "Doesn't this city ever shut up?" Even now, as late at night as it could really get, the city hummed quietly with commerce, albeit at this hour the commerce was often fueled by drunken criminals, it still hummed quietly.

Xin Fu tossed back the last of his drink, slamming the mug down on the table in front of him. Tatsuya sat across from him, with Master Yu at the 'head' of the small dining table the Earth Bender had been resting his feet on a few hours before. They'd ordered room service, for their 'talk.'

"So, lemme get this straight… You'll compete, for not a single crown, and give us all your winnings, if afterward we help you find, capture, and transport the Avatar out of the city?" Xin Fu leaned out on his knees sort of looming across the table toward the Captain. "And then we get the Earth Bender girl?"

"That's the deal on the table." Tatsuya sipped calmly at his tea. His day had taken a strange turn somewhere, and he wasn't entirely sure how it'd happened, but somehow he'd ended up competing in a gladiatorial bender tournament under the sponsorship of the Earth Rumble, in exchange for the Avatar's hide. He really felt like this was more the banished prince's stick.

There was an upside. If he captured the Avatar he was certain Princess Azula would forgive his transgression & direct disobedience of her orders.

The downside was that, from the sound of it, he'd have to fight at least a half dozen Earth Benders, and maybe a Water Bender or two. The Earth Benders he wasn't worried about. He could take a dozen of them on with nothing but his halberd and bending beside him, he'd do so before, and although it had earned him some scars, he was the one who'd walked away.

His worries lied with the possibility of Water Benders. He'd never actually fought a Water Bender. Heck, he'd never actually seen a Water Bender. He had no idea what to expect and no idea if he was going to be able to overpower them or not. All he had to go on was the other officer's stories, and though he didn't want to put too much stalk in them, they told of clever agile Bender able to turn your own attacks against you. Although some of that might've been the other soldiers trying to scare him off, they hadn't exactly been friends.

"Wait… I'm confused…" Master Yu rubbed at the base of his beard lightly, stroking it in thought. "If you want the Avatar…" He gestured to Tatsuya. "And we want the Bei Fong girl…" He gestured to Xin Fu. "Then why don't we join together and take them at once? Why take the Avatar first?"

Xin Fu sighed. "Because… The Avatar's the ultimate bender, and the girl's no small feat either. We take one and then the other." He grinned a little. "Smoky here," He waved at Tatsuya, who didn't appreciate the nickname. "Snatches the Avatar with our information, the Avatar's gang, including the Bei Fong's brat, chases after him, then, while they're confused and without their greatest Bender, we swoop in and snatch up the girl."

"But why don't we just use the fake letter plan? It's certain to get the girl to come alone; we could use it to…"

Xin Fu interrupted. "Because, I don't want to be hanging from a ceiling for weeks on end, and besides, I've always heard about the amazing fights in the Battling Bender's underground arena of Ba Sing Sei. As long as we're here we might as well make some money and take in a show. Plus with Smoky here we're bound to make a killing," He waved to Tatsuya again. "We've got the greatest gimmick ever seen!"

"Do stop calling me that." The Captain sipped at his tea again. There was a vein in his forehead that was ready to explode. Gan Jin, Zhang, Greedy Thugs and Pompous Masters. He was starting to actually look forward to this bending battle. At least there he could blow of some steam or fire as the case may be. At this point he'd almost welcome a fight.

"Although we should really dress you up some…" Xin Fu eyed Tatsuya a little, in a way in which he'd never, and hope never again, to be eyed by another man.

"Excuse me?" He raised an eyebrow at the gruff member of his current associations.

"Hmm… yes, you have a point Xin Fu… He simply can't go into battle as he is…" Yu joined in on the eyeing, and that just made it all the more creepy.

"Back off. I mean it." The Captain began to reach for his halberd.

"Oh relax would you, we're talking about for tomorrow's fight." Xin Fu leaned back laying his arms over the back of the couch. "You can't represent the Fire Nation like that." He nodded to the ragged red clothes Tatsuya wore; he hadn't actually changed since he left the Train.

Tatsuya relaxed and lifted his collar lightly, sniffing at his shirt just a little. Though he hated to admit it, the Earth Bender was probably right. He wasn't fit to represent the Fire Nation dressed as he was. He was beginning to regret leaving his uniform behind. It would've been cumbersome to carry, and difficult to keep hidden, but it was still his uniform, the symbol of his connection to the Fire Nation, to princess Azula. He should've brought it with him… He looked down into his tea cup.

"I'll ask around…" Master Yu rubbed his whiskers. "There should be someone in the city who can make a Fire Nation uniform overnight."

"Better yet, maybe we can just smuggle Smokey's in. How 'bout it, where'd you leave it?" Xin Fu was becoming disinterested. He was more of the run up and beat on people, than carefully plan things kind of guy.

"No…" Tatsuya sighed. "It's too far away…" He started slowly turning his tea cup around in his hands. He was starting to regret leaving. He'd never imagined the city was so tremendous. He'd seen it on maps of course, but he'd just, sort of assumed it was an exaggeration…

"Hmm… well that's a shame." Yu leaned back a little. "But maybe someone has an old uniform laying around, a trophy from the failed siege perhaps…"

"Doesn't really matter as long as it's red." Xin Fu was clearly bored already. "Not like people will see much from the stands…"

"It matters." Tatsuya looked up, cold, solemn. The sort of sober pale look that came of knowing something mattered truly and deeply, but not knowing why it mattered.

"Heh." Now Xin Fu was interested. "Stop acting like you're not a traitor kid."

"I'm not a Traitor." The Captain snapped back.

"Oh please. You may've come here after the Avatar, but I'm darn sure the 'mighty' Fire Nation wouldn't send one little green kid after the only thing that could stop 'em." He smirked a little and leaned forward. "You're a deserter aren't cha? A coward who left cause he couldn't cut it…" Xin Fun laughed a little. "Guess all Fire Bender's ain't as tough as they're made out to be." He laughed a little more.

Tatsuya fell silent. He wasn't a traitor or a deserter… or at least he didn't want to be. True he had abandoned his post, and left his armor and uniform behind. But he'd done it… Why had he done it? He liked to think, to tell himself, he'd done it to protect the princess. But she didn't need protection, least of all form him. That was becoming increasingly clear with every day he failed to find her.

"Heh, what's the matter Fire Boy?" Xin Fun leaned forward a little more, practically face to face with the Captain. "Hit the nail on the head did I?" He laughed. Tatsuya hit him in the face so hard the couch flipped on its back. Xin Fun grunted and stormed to his feet. "Why you little!" He summoned a large boulder from the floor. Tatsuya snatched up his halberd and jumped to his feet.

Master Yu threw half the stone table into the chests of each of them, knocking both of them against the wall behind them. "Calm yourselves." He stood up. "You were kind of asking for it." He said with a smirk leaning a little toward his associate, even as Xin Fu dusted himself off. Tatsuya stayed doubled over. "And you." Yu walked over to him, his hands in his sleeves. "Save your strength for tomorrow." He smirked a little and opened the door to the hall, and two very half asleep Earth Benders who felt a little like they'd been forgotten about.

The Captain got to his feet. "Tsk. A soldier is always ready for battle." It was one of the tenants of the Fire Navy.

"Right. Well, just try and act like you haven't abandoned your country, for whatever reason." Xin Fu patted him on the shoulder as he walked out.

"The room is paid for the night… " The two left, "Sleep well…" Closing the door behind them.

Azula listened to another muffled thunk penetrate the gentle hum of Ba Sing Sei at night. She really felt she should do something to stop Mai from throwing daggers at her wall. She really felt like it was keeping her up, and then if she stopped it she'd be able to enjoy a peaceful night sleep and wake well rested and able to summon a creatively sinister plan for finding the Avatar from the depths of her consciousness. She just wasn't entirely sure she could trust her feelings.

And that was why she laid there, awake, staring at the ceiling, listening to the rhythmic knife strikes of her dower friend, and the muffled laughing of her cheerful companion, and said companion's date's muffled attempts at being suave, or whatever he was saying.

She sighed a little, just lying in her barrowed bed, letting her mind slowly turn on its own, without direction or encouragement. She just listened to her own thoughts, and tired to understand where they came from.

She really didn't care for the color green. It was one of the first thoughts that came to her mind. It wasn't so much that she hated it, or didn't like the color itself. Truthfully a nice lush plant or forest was quite appealing to the princess. The Fire Nation had many lush tropicanas, and though she'd never spent much time there since her mother had died, she'd always liked the garden.

And their house at Ember Island. Azula actually smiled a little. She didn't know why. She didn't have any particularly good memories attached to Ember Island. She'd been far too young whenever they'd visit to properly remember any of them.

But still. Something about the idea of Ember Island made her smile.

Perhaps it was the local…

No, she'd never actually been much one for beaches. Though thinking back now, she couldn't actually recall every going to one. Not even after summer session ended when she was in school…

Everybody else had gone places… why hadn't she?

Well that was obvious, because there was no reason to go.

It wasn't like going to a beach was that important, all people do there is talk with their friends and make fools of themselves in an attempt to court each other. And there was no reason for her to do something as pointless as that. She was the princess of the Fire Nation; boys were practically falling over themselves to court her.

But then… what if she wasn't the princess? This thought troubled her slightly.

She'd always thought of herself as, Princess Azula, daughter of Fire Lord Ozai, second in line to the throne of the Fire Nation and one of the greatest Fire Benders to ever live.

What if she was just… Azula. She wasn't sure she knew how to be, Just Azula.

Of course this whole line of thinking was silly. She Was Princess Azula.

And she always would be.

Until of course, her father died.

Again the princess was given pause. The thought of her father, Fire Lord Ozai, dead. It was an eventuality of course, but… She'd never really thought about it before. Not seriously at any rate. He'd always just seemed… Well, indomitable. He was the Fire Lord, he was the one who was going to conquer the world, and nothing was going to get in his way. Oh she admired him for certain. He was powerful, probably the most powerful man in the world, and he wouldn't let anything get in his way, not even his own father's wishes.

She still remembered… The night her mother had 'vanished.'

Azula rolled over onto her side.

She didn't want to remember… She didn't know why, she understood his reasons… or at least she thought she did…

It was simple really. Grandfather was old, kill him in his sleep, and claim his dying wish was to make you Fire Lord. Who would doubt you? Iroh wasn't there; nobody had known where he was… And after all, the country needed leading, Ozai probably would've ended up leading it until Iroh was found anyway, making him Fire Lord just meant his rule was longer, and he was clearly the better choice.

It was just… She'd always sort of wondered… back in the back of her mind… the bottom of her heart… Would her mother have done the same if Azulon had ordered for her death? Of course he hadn't, so it didn't really matter… but… if he had, would their mother have protected her the same as she had for Zuko?

And if she had… would their father have born as much of a grudge against her as he had Zuko?

Azula held no illusions that her father had blamed Zuko for their mother's disappearance. Whatever had happened, and Azula had a few ideas, it was clear that their mother had done something that she shouldn't have. And that she'd done it to protect Zuko from their grandfather's wrath. And that Ozai had carried that wrath for the years between then, and his fateful duel with Zuko.

Azula remembered that day as well… She smirked. Zuko had finally been put in his place. He had finally been shown that the Crown Prince was expected to behave a certain way, and that when you didn't behave that way there were consequences.

There were always consequences. Zuko was just too dense to see them. He always just did what he wanted, said what he felt. It didn't matter to him whether it was proper, or what the consequences of his actions were, or why those consequences were there. He always just… acted anyway…

Azula curled up a little. She was jealous of him for that. She'd never admit it on pain of death, but she was. No matter the consequences. Zuko always just acted, he did what his heart told him to… It didn't matter to him whether that path was the right one, or whether or not he was strong enough to see it through… He never thought ahead. He never worried, or plotted, or schemed, or, anything.

And he was weak for it. He'd never achieve greatness that way. Father had as much as said so when he'd murdered their Grandfather. If you wanted something, you had to find a way to take it.

You didn't just try and take it, because that way would never get you win. If a fruit was out of reach, you didn't just jump again and again until you were tired. You found some way to it, some way to get what you wanted, some way with which you would be certain not to fail. And once you found that way, Then you acted, once your victory was assured. No one ever rewarded effort. They rewarded victory, and if you could win, than you didn't deserve to, than you were weak.

It was simple…

It was simple…

Tatsuya wasn't sleeping either.

He'd turned out all the lights, righted the couch, undressed, and was lying out in the bed, staring at the ceiling.

He wasn't a traitor… He only had the Fire Nation's best interests at heart… But… the Fire Nation's best interests were to have him at his post, ready to rally the troops once Princess Azula sent him the signal.

Who knows… She might have already sent the signal, and was waiting on the arrival of the Fire Nation armies… She might've already sent the signal… and been captured when the armies didn't arrive… It could be his fault she was captured… it could be his fault she was…

He rolled over onto his side, staring out a window at the twinkling cityscape.

It wasn't true… He hadn't betrayed her. He'd only done what she would've wanted him to… And yet… His own words still rang in his ears. 'I will do all that I can to support you from outside the city princess, I promise.' I promise… he'd promised her he'd support her form outside the city… He'd lied to her…

No, that wasn't betrayal… He'd said that then but circumstances had changed. A full month had past, longer now, with no sign of contact from the Princess. She could've been captured, or injured, or discovered and hiding, or any number of things… It would've been irresponsible not to investigate!

Of course… he'd had other options. Sure he had no authority but he'd had her seal. He could've requested all the spy reports from within Ba Sing Sei. As easy as it was to get in, they were certain to have a few spies in the city at least… He could've… He should've…

Tatsuya flipped over, face the dark wall.

He should've stayed outside… He should've listened to her… But he Didn't Betray her!

He may have acted poorly but… that didn't mean he was traitor, or a deserter. He was the very opposite of a deserter! He was risking everything for the Fire Nation! He was entering into a duel in which the combatants were allowed to murder each other, in an attempt to local and render aid to Princess Azula of the Fire Nation!

But… if he actually captured the Avatar… and got him outside the city… He'd have no way of contacting the Princess. She could spend months… years, scouring the city for him. Until she gave up or was captured… and the Princess never gave up…

And then there was the fact that there was no way in the world he could actually capture the Avatar! He was what, one man, with mediocre Fire Bending and a long sharp metal pole. The Avatar was a demi-god! Master of at least two elements now, possibly three. There was no way he could defeat him, or if he somehow managed to, in prison him. Murder him maybe, if he was lucky, but doing so would win nothing. It would just start the cycle over again, buy them a few years. And perhaps the Fire Nation would win when the comet came, but the Avatar would still be there, for the people to rally behind, to lead them against the Fire Lord.

He shouldn't have left… but he didn't Betray her.

He didn't.


	29. Morning

The princess awoke early the next morning. Well it was more that she opened her eyes, and decided that it was light enough out that she should get up for the day. It wasn't that she was tired; so much as she didn't particularly feel like being out of bed. Her eyes were tired of the color green. Her ears were tired of the never ending din of this city. Her spirit was tired of playing the pawn.

Azula sighed light and strolled into the kitchen, she'd never cared much for tea, but it did have a certain quality about it that helped to settle one's mind.

She filled the kettle and set it on the stove, over one of those little piles of twigs and with a flick of the wrist… Sighed, Spark Rocks, where… Lang handed her a pair. "Thanks." She muttered back as she clicked the two together and lit the burner. She felt pathetic, needing these stones to start a fire… Wait.

Azula turned back to the strange male visitor standing in her kitchen, not perhaps early in the morning, but still the morning. "Who are you?" She raised an eyebrow at him and sized him up. He didn't appear to be a burglar, in fact he appeared to be quite comfortable puttering about the apartment, a little awkward perhaps but only because he was attempting to remain silent.

He returned her confused stare. "Lang Lee." Azula crossed her arms and leaned against the wall beside her. "Ty Lee's boyfriend?" That answered her question sufficiently, and she nodded lightly, relaxing.

"Oh, you two had a good night then I suppose?" It was too early for pointless subtlety in her mind.

"Y-yeah…" Lang nervously rubbed the back of his head. "But by the time we got back it was already late… and I live on the other side of the ring so Ty Lee invited me to stay the night…"

"Of course she did." Azula didn't really care, but seeing how he insisted on explaining his presence in her kitchen while she busied herself reducing perfectly decent food to a black crunchy substance reminiscent of charcoal, she supposed she might as well play along. "Well, I hope you slept well…" No she didn't.

Another nervous laugh. "Eh… well your futon's a little lumpy but… yeah I slept fine." He smirked a little, and Azula couldn't help but join in, Ty Lee had made him sleep on the floor…

"Well you're welcome to stay for breakfast…" The princess smirked a little and turned back to the gently flickering flames, just beneath the kettle. "Though I'm not entirely sure what to make, I'm sure I'll figure something out…"

"Sure why not, that sounds nice." Lang smirked a little, sitting down at the small breakfast table that occupied one side of the kitchen. "I've never had a Warrior's breakfast before." He smirked a little more chuckling lightly at his own joke.

Azula's brow twitched. This boy was no gentleman. A gentleman would've offered to help her cook the meal. A gentleman should render assistance to a lady in whatever task she might undertake. She rolled her teeth against each other.

But it was against her current role to confront this boy about his lack of proper manners. Azula smirked a little. Well if she couldn't confront him, she'd just have to torture him, after all, now she finally had someone to test her cooking on. Mai simply refused, and Ty Lee had taken to hiding whenever the Princess was cooking.

"So Lang… You're from an affluent family? You did say you lived on the other side of the upper ring…" Azula smirked a little as she tossed together a light assortment of salmon-squid slices and chime peppers.

-

Xin Fu kick in Tatsuya's door that morning, hoping to catch the young Fire Bender unaware, just out of personal pride. He didn't.

Tatsuya hadn't slept.

Not a single moment of reprieve had been granted to the Captain that night.

He'd spent it beset by images of… well, images of everything. Every phantom his mind could conceive had been born from the darkness and set to work ripping and tearing his body to pieces.

Even now, as he artfully prepared his own breakfast, his mind reeled at the world around him.

Master Yu presented him with a large bag, the contents of which were to be his mock uniform for the, 'tournament' they called it. Tatsuya could think of a few other words he might've used for it.

Deathmatch was at the top of his list, though he was hardly in a state to pass judgment. His mind was beset upon itself, and though his outward appearance was calm, his hands eerily steady. His thoughts were chaotic.

What if… If he… Could they have… Could she be…

All the possibilities, rolled about behind his eyes, the grimiest visiting him several times before being replaced by something else. His hair was a mess, he hadn't bothered to restore it after he'd tossed and turned in bed all night. He felt the weight of his shadow as he dragged it behind him, following the two Earth Benders toward wherever it was that this 'tournament' of theirs was to be held, underground some place, it figured.

He heard Yu recite the rules. Weapons weren't allowed, he'd have to leave his halberd behind. You won if the other combatants lost consciousness, submitted, or died. Killing was frowned upon, but people wouldn't likely care in his case. They didn't care if he died, of if he killed… He was Fire Nation after all.

Tatsuya shrugged them off. The arena was underground, though still a sizeable structure. It even had locker rooms for the combatants, not that they were much, but it was something to have a place to collect you head before you went off to die…

All the Captain could do, sitting in that dank, dark room, breathing the stink of sweat mixed with blood and earth, was think.

What had happened to Princess Azula? Had he really abandoned her? Had she needed him when he wasn't there? Was it his fault the Earth Kingdom had captured her? Was it his fault she was being tortured? Was it his fault she was…

He'd long since given up giving himself any excuses. They were all worthless lies anyway…

He'd known what he was doing when he'd left that camp. He'd known he was leaving his post. He'd known he was abandoning the Fire Nation, and Princess Azula with it… It didn't matter what his reasons were. Reasons didn't matter in the real world.

The Fire Nation had started the war. What their reasons for that didn't matter. The simple fact was, they'd started the war, and were vilified for it.

His father had… heh… His father. His father had died in service of the Fire Nation. His father had been a villainous bastard, a cruel heartless man who'd seen what he'd wanted and taken it. His reasons were self serving, pointless, cruel and worthless. His father had been a villain, and Tatsuya was better off for having never met the man.

And his mother… his mother be damned, she never showed him one ounce of affection. All she'd ever done was, was pity herself!

She'd brought him into the cold and unforgiving world, and then hated him for being there! Her reasons, that she hated his father for what he'd done, that she hated his father for his nation, but that was no fault of his! She was as cold and heartless a woman as any, and Tatsuya was better off for having seen her dead!

A cold chill fell over him...

He'd forgotten, but, how could he? The day he'd finally been accepted to the Fire Navy. The day he'd sought to leave the suffering of his childhood behind. The happiest day of his life.

The day his mother had hung herself.

But what of it?! She'd never shown him any affection, and on the one day in his miserable life that he might've had some glimmer of cheer she'd murdered herself to spite him!

Tatsuya silently cursed the cheering that beat against the stone walls of the small, dark room. He cursed the voices, and he cursed their owners.

And why shouldn't he?! They were Earth Kingdom! He should curse them! They were the same people who had battered and beaten him as a child. They were the same people as his cursed mother!

The same monsters that had battered and beaten his innocences from him, They were the ones which had stolen his happiness from him, and he Should hate them for it. Them, and everyone else!

No one, not one person in this damned and godforsaken world had ever cared more about Tatsuya than a speck of earth beneath their shoe, and each of them had been egger to prove so!

Tatsuya tore open the sack Yu had given him. He tore it open and stared.

He held in his hand, the uniform of a Fire Nation Royal. Too big for Princess Azula's… and too old for anyone else.

His hands trembled and he threw it to the ground.

What did he care for the Fire Nation! Not one of them had every accepted him, not one of them had ever shown him the comradely, the sense of brotherhood that he'd deserved. He'd join the military ready to fight and die for anyone that stood beside him, for anyone that wore the uniform of the Fire Nation!

He threw his fist into the stone locker, the heavy sound of broken stone and bone mixed with the muffled cheering from just beyond the walls.

He'd been ready to fight and die for any one of them, and they'd never have done the same for him. They'd hated him. They'd hated him for his mother's unspoken sins. They'd hated him for simply being born to an Earth Kingdom tramp, rather than a Fire Nation woman. They'd hated him for… For everything he was!

And he hated them back! Tatsuya snarled away from the locker, spitting fire and kicking over the bench he'd sat on. He stood there in the middle of the empty room, listening to the muffled cheering, his back to the uniform.

He had hated them…

Even now, remembering all the suffering of his life, all the unjust accusations, all the torments, all the pain, and all the undue anguish, he just couldn't conjure the hatred the way he used to… He didn't hate them anymore.

He wanted to, with all his heart he wanted to. But he didn't.

Tatsuya walked over to where the Royal armor rested, and righted it, brushing the dust and dirt from it. His hand hurt, and he chuckled lightly, just, looking at the armor, admiring it.

He'd given up his right to hated them when he'd met her… That perfect, powerful, beautiful and at the same time terrifying creature, the beast that'd stolen the rage right from his veins… Princess Azula.

He was going to find her. He needed to. He had to. If he died he was going to. It was the only way he could redeem himself. It was the only way he could…

He sighed. He didn't know anything anymore… He knew he needed to redeem himself. But he wouldn't admit to betraying Princess Azula. It just, didn't feel right to say he betrayed her, when all he'd wanted to do was help her. He couldn't have betrayed her. He just couldn't have.

Tatsuya put on the armor, cleaning himself up as he did. He tied his hair back, pinning it in place with a brass needle. He tightened the wrist guards, and strapped himself into the boots. He'd done it a million times before. He didn't even think about it, until he saw four small words, just barely visible, etched into the inside collar of the chest piece. 'Be safe my son.'

He brushed his hand over them. They were burnt in, from the looks of it by the hands of a Fire Bender.

He couldn't help but smile. He knew the message wasn't for him, but he couldn't help but think that it was. That someone, he'd never met, and probably never would, cared for him, because he wore the uniform of the Fire Nation. Because he was a Son of Fire.

Tatsuya strapped himself into the armor, brushing himself down and taking one last look of himself before he stood ready at the entrance to the area. He was a Son of Fire, and he was going to prove it.

-

The arena was massive. The entire thing at least twice the size of a Fire Nation barracks, and entirely underground, there was even a waterfall feeding a small river ringing the battlefield on the far size. Though truthfully the actually battlefield was just about the size of a barracks, the raised stands were at least half again as expansive. The stands were packed, hundreds of people, men, women, and even a few children gathered in their seats to watch.

An Earth Bender, walked out into the center of the battleground, even distances from the three gates that fed combatants to the arena. He was older than Xin Fu, but looked very much like what the gruff unmannered man would've wanted to be when he grew up. He stomped the ground and rose up atop a sizable pillar of earth.

"Do you want to see some bending?!" His voice echoed about the cave, and the crowd cheered back in an incurable din of encouragement. "Do you really want to see some bending?!" Again the crowd roared back, this time with such fervor that the great glowing crystal sun of the cavern seemed to tremble. "Then do I have a treat for you!"

He waved his hands out to either side pointing out at the audience as he masterfully whipped them into a frenzy. "We're starting today off with a bang folks! For the first match of the day we have a landmark battle!" He paused to listen to the appreciative cheers. "Today only, not one… Not two… But three separate Benders will be fighting for their live and your entertainment!" The crowd roared up, and their ring master smirked.

"Allow me to introduce, the first of today's combatants, and the best Earth Bender ever to be featured here on Bending Battles! You know him, you love him, you come to see him! Earth Shaker Shu!" The ring master pointed to the gate on his right, and a large, though surprisingly young Earth Bender walked out.

He was wearing something that, might've been a uniform if it had a shirt, and though he wasn't a scrawny man, he didn't look as broad as most Earth Benders. But the coating of dirt was there. He walked, shaking his fists above his head and working the crowd, over to the right side of the ring master.

"And now for combatant number two…" The ring master was clearly having fun introducing his fighters. "All the way from the Northern Water Tribe… the only Water Bender to hold her stuff against the big bad boys from Ba Sing Sei… You've seen her fight, you've tried to date her… the Queen of Ice herself… Torrent Tamer Kara!" This time he pointed to his left, and an older Water Tribe woman walked out.

She wore something like what people expected Water Tribesmen to wear. A heavy leather shirt died blue, cut short to expose her stomach, with a white rimmed shall puffing up her shoulders, and matching sleeves, separate from her shirt, and some kind of padding reaching from her ankles to knees. No shoes, just like the Earth Bender though.

She walked over to the left of the ring master's speaking column tossing a friendly glance Shu's way before they both turned to face the final gate.

"And now…" The ring master put a sinister ring in his voice and the stadium quieted. "For our final combatant we have not just one surprise… but two. Not only is this the first time he's appeared in our fair games, but this is the first time Any practitioner of his art has appeared in Bending Battles, since its establishment some three years ago…" He paused for dramatic effect; the audience was practically hanging on his every word. "Ladies and gentlemen… Natives and refugees… I give you… for the first time ever. Captain of the Chained Phoenix… Officer in Armies of the Fire Nation… Captain, Tatsuya, Phoenix Flame, Shooouhei!" He cast a dramatic hand toward the final gate and the entire arena fell silent.

At first everyone just stared. It was hard to make out in the darkness of the walkway, but then, slowly, it came into focus. That vibrant red armor, dark black hair, tied up in a topknot, skin paler than any Earth Kingdom native, and that confident, dominate stride.

The stands erupted. Such a deafening din had never been heard before. Insults mixed with screams. Fear mixed with outrage, and soon only rage remained. Rocks, drinks, trash of every kind rained down from the stands. Some of the stones nearly reached him, tossed by bending, not by hand, but he simply let all of it, every insult, ever death wish, wash over him, splash against the Royal Armor he wore, and become nothing, meaningless.

Tatsuya marched up to stand in front of the ring master's speaking pillar, and the earth bender brought it down to stand with the three combatants. Shu, the Earth Bender, was already glaring at Tatsuya. Kara, the Water Bender, seemed to regard him with more… apprehension.

"Alright kids you know the rules." Even between the combatants the ring master commanded attention. "Don't try to kill each other." He glanced to each of them, lingering on Tatsuya the longest. "But make it a good fight… and above all, keep it interesting, got it?"

"Agreed." Shu fell into his stance, at first equally regarding his other two combatants, but eventually settling on Tatsuya alone.

"Agreed." Kara pulled a lash of water from the rivulet behind her, arching it over her shoulders.

"Agreed." Tatsuya shifted down into his own stance, and took a deep breath, trying his best to bring his mind to the here and now…

"Alright then…" The ring mastered kicked off the ground, sending himself high into air, flying back up into the V.I.P. box of the stands. "Let the Bending Battle, Begin!"

-

"What do you mean you know where the Avatar is?!" Azula slammed her hands down onto the breakfast table, and the remains of her cooking nearly exploded off the stove.

Luckily Lang was a little too frightened by the apparently very upset woman glaring down at him from across the table. "Well… uhm… no, not exactly… I mean… I heard about him leading a stampede through the outer ring a few days ago… but, I don't exactly know where he is now…"

"Mhm?... What's going on?" Ty Lee groaned as she leaned her head around the doorway inside, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Ty Lee get ready!" The princess spun on her heel, marching to her own bed chamber to do the same.

The gymnast just sort of blinked and looked to the boy sitting at the table. "What's going on?"

Lang blinked, rather confused himself. "I'm not entirely sure… but I think it has something to do with the new zoo in the agrarian zone…"

"Oh I love the zoo!" Ty Lee grinned practically ear to ear. "Are you going to take us to one?"

Again the boy blinked, he wasn't sure if it was just something about Kyoshi Warriors, or these girl in particular, but he was getting very confused. "Uhm… yeah sure, I guess I could even round up some of the guys and we could make it a date."

"Eee! I'll go get ready!" And after a rather shrill shriek the gymnast vanished back off to her bed chamber, leaving one very confused young man sitting in front of a plate of what was quite possibly at some point in the past fish and peppers alone.

Thought not for long. "What's going on?" Mai walked into the kitchen not long after Ty Lee had left, as uninterested as ever in the happenings of the world, but interested at least, by the noise coming from the kitchen.

"Going to the zoo, wanna come along? I can set you up with a friend." Lang had finally decided to just roll with whatever happened and hope for the best. They were cute after all.

"Whatever…"


	30. Mayhem

The air roared with applauds, punctuated only by the thunderous clap of stone shattered by fire, or the hateful hiss of a fury born steam cloud.

Another thunderclap broke through the noise as Tatsuya drove his fist through an ill fated boulder, fragments of smoking rock were sent scattering about. A heavy breath escaped him, but the Captain spun, lifting his leg high over his head before bringing it down on his other side, splitting a torrential wave in the process.

Shu, the Earth Bender, strafed to the right, a large tumbling pile of stones following him. Kara, the Water Bender, moved up on the right, a torrent of water circling her.

Two opponents at once, Tatsuya smirked lightly. It wasn't the first time he'd face two at a time, had he had his halberd he'd probably already have cut the odds in half, literally and figuratively. Of course he didn't, all he had was his bending, and he'd always been better with his halberd than with the flame.

Still… there was something invigorating about bending. Commanding that kind of energy, forcing it from your own body, it was a release. There was something, purifying, about the flames.

Kara sent a lash of water toward him, twisting it into a frozen ice spear half way to Tatsuya. A quick side step, and a deep breath, and the icy lance shot past.

Shu brought his leg up in a crescent kick, and sent the water bender's attack shattering to the ground. The moment he brought his foot back down, he stomped the earth, creating a quivering depression around his leg. Another kick and the depression swelled and roared out towards the Captain.

It arrived too soon to dodge, but its nature left another option. Tatsuya leapt to the air, pulling his legs up close as he leaned back, nearly vertical as the raging earth passed under him.

He fell back down, flat on his back, and rolled to one side before the next attack came.

Kara was struck head on by Shu's unintentional attack, and though it only knocked her down, it took a moment for the Water Bender to recover. The Earth Bender, however, held nothing preventing him from continuing the assault.

He brought his heel down heavy to one side, knocking up a large block of stone, and with a twisting side kick he sent it tearing through the air.

Tatsuya struck the earth with the flat of his palms the first moment he was face down in his roll, catapulting himself upward, and with the same movement, he brought his fist crashing back through Shu's attack, smashing it to smoldering pieces, and in the same instant sticking his foot back and landing firmly in his stance.

He was leading with his left hand, keeping his right chambered. He was starting to regret punching the locker, his left hand was red and slightly swollen, bending from it was fine, but bringing it head to head with the Earth Bent stones hurt.

The Water Bender was on her feet again, and with one long slow sweeping movement, she pulled a long lash from the rivulets ringing the arena and brought it twisting around her.

At first it appeared she was too far from the Captain to strike, the liquid lash twisting out back toward the wall before it was half way to him. Or at least it seemed so until the forward head of the tendril dove back into the cliffside rivulet, and what had been the rear twisted around to crash down upon the Captain.

Tatsuya twisted himself, casting a curled flame against the coming storm. It served only to delay the tide, and the full force of the Water Bender's attack crashed down a moment later. And a moment too late, Tatsuya was no longer where he stood, but charged beneath the raging torrent toward its source.

A trio of heavy stone tore past him, the first arching too high, the too far forward, and the third met the Captain's heel.

But they delayed him enough, the torrent that had been arched over his head came crashing down, not a directed attack, but more a dissolved tendril, it served to do little more than dampen the area, and disturb Tatsuya's hair.

The stands roared. They cried out for the Captain's demise. They saw the fight as even. They saw it wrong. Tatsuya was trapped defending, he couldn't get an opening to strike back, and he couldn't fight forever.

And to make matters worse. His mind wasn't with him. It was with her.

His breath came in broken bouts. And again he charged for his opponents, this time the Earth Bender.

A flurry of stones, a stabbing pain in his left hand as he struck one away, it stole his breath.

A tidal wave, he brought his heel down to split it, but his strength was insufficient and the wave pushed him back. They were pushing him to the center of the arena… trapping him?

A bloodthirsty howl, and a violent curl of flames lashed out toward the Earth Bender. It crashed roaring against a stone shield.

The Water Bender advanced, riding a serpentine mass of ice weaving her way about the boulder strewn battleground. Tatsuya tossed a flame her way, it held little drive, and less heat, but it was never intended to defeat her, merely delay her.

His true quarry was the Earth Bender, Shu. Tatsuya dashed toward him, weaving between stone assaults and trailing twin flame from behind each hand.

He didn't quite make it. A large stone took him in the shoulder and sent him twisting to the side, it may have dislocated his shoulder, but the impact of the landing likely put it back in place.

And all the while he still held his mind back from the fight. All he held was a single thought… I betrayed her… ringing again and again…

-

"Dude, seriously?" Chit Zan, one of Lang's best friends, was the speaker. He, Lee Ran, and Lang were gathered conspiratorially together, eyeing the 'Kyoshi Warriors' from a distance.

"What? She's hot like I said." Lang smirked, Chit was the one he'd set up with Azula.

"Yeah, but you kind of forgot to mention that she's scary beyond all reason." Chit wasn't terribly pleased with the arrangement.

"Oh come on she's not that bad…" The three boys eye Azula up and down.

Well two of them eyed her up and down, the one that had been spending time with her since they arrived at the zoo just sort of shivered. "Dudes, she scares me in ways I didn't know I could be scared…"

"Tsk… Hey at least you girl doesn't hide knives all over her…" This speaker was boy number three, Lee Ran, the one who had been set up with Mai. "I don't know where I can touch her without cutting myself!"

"You two are both being ridiculous, they're both perfectly normal, absurdly cute girls, and you're lucky I came to you with them." Lang was a little upset with how disingenuous his friends were being. He'd handpicked them for Ty Lee's friends.

"He's just saying that because he got the normal one." Chit smirked a little crossing his arms over his chest and nodding in the direction of the three 'Kyoshi Warrios.'

Lang glared at him. "Normal? Dude, Ty Lee spends as much time upsidedown as she does rightside up." He gestured toward the girl in question, who, though she was well out of earshot as were they all, chose this moment to flip up onto her hands as she smiled at a rather confused baboon-gorilla.

"Remind me again why we're here?" Lee was having second thoughts about the whole, 'date warrior women' grand scheme.

"Dudes… these are Kyoshi Warriors." Lang smirked, attempting to reinvigorate his friends' enthusiasm for the triple date they were one. "Kyoshi Warriors, like from the island of Kyoshi, like from the southern end of the Earth Kingdom." He looked each of them in the eye. "Now granted they are a little…" He looked back at the girls. Ty Lee was attempting to coxes the baboon-gorilla to walk on its hands like her. "Strange… but there's not going to be another girl like any one of these three for a hundred miles… Now are you guys going to wimp out on me? Or are you going to prove that you've got what it takes to date a Warrior?"

While Lang's speech was motivating and spirited, his friends weren't exactly moved. "Yeah… whatever man." Chit sighed, tucking his hands behind his head and glancing over at Azula. "But sure… I'll bite the snake on this one…" He sighed again. "But if you guys don't hear from me after this, call the guards before she has a chance to burry my body huh? I think you two owe me that much."

The other two laughed and practically pushed him off.

"Hey wait up for me!"

-

"Come on, you can do it. You're practically all forearms anyway." Ty Lee stared back at the large baboon-gorilla from her upside-down pose. He looked confused.

"Give it up Ty Lee, you're not going to teach every animal to walk on its hands…" Mai sighed a little, the three of them had gotten up in their full Kyoshi Warrior uniform, face paint and all, and quite frankly Mai was regretting it. He date was tall scrawny and kept trying to feel her up before remembering she had knives.

"We're not here to play with the animals. The Avatar made this zoo, so there has to be someone around here who knows where he is…" Azula wasn't much happier. Her date hadn't said half a dozen words to her, and quite frankly he seemed to be afraid of her. "I'm going to see if I can't find the owner… If anyone knows anything it'll be him."

"Hey wait up for me!" Chit scurried up to Azula's side. "Where're you going? Without me?" He smirked down at the disguised princess, throwing his arm over her shoulder as he walked beside her.

Azula twitched a little when he put his arm on her, but she swallowed her desire to incinerate him, and smiled. "Oh I was just going to see if I couldn't find the owner, see if he knows where to find our friend the Avatar."

"Well I guess I'll tag along."

"You really don't need to…" Azula tried her best to get the boy to stand down, were she not disguised she would've probably broken something important of his by now. But she wasn't, and as much as she wanted to, and she really wanted to, she didn't.

"Nonsense, I can't let a beautiful girl like you walk around by yourself." Chit smirked down at her, and she had to restrain herself even more to keep from hurting him. He was just so… condescending, if this was what Earth Kingdom boys were like they deserved to get conquered.

"Really, I'm… the leader of a troop of warriors, I think I can handle whatever this city might throw at me." Azula shrugged off his arm, walking a ways ahead.

He smirked a little and sort of pocketed his hands as he sort of strolled after her. "You might be surprised…"

Ty Lee flipped herself up right as she watched Azula, and the very dense boy walk off together. "You don't she'll hurt him do you?"

Mai sort of half leaned on the stone fence separating the animals and the walkway. She shrugged. "Depends on if he does anything stupid." She smirked a little but sighed lightly as the other pair of boys came walking back over to them. "And speaking of stupid…"

"Sorry about that girls, guy stuff, you know how it is…" Lang smirked a little and threw his arm over Ty Lee as she blinked up at him.

"Why would we know about guy stuff?..."

-

I betrayed her… This thought rang though Tatsuya's head again and again. I betrayed her, and I don't deserve to live. He let out a violent curl of flames and the water bender's attack dissolved away. I betrayed her, there's no more reason for me to live. A boulder came soaring through the air, and the Captain ducked rolling out of its path. I betrayed her... So why do I cling to this worthless existence?! Another stone ripped through the air toward him, and was shattered apart by a violent burst of explosive flames.

The crowd cheered as he fell to his knees. They wanted to see fire fall, they wanted to see him beaten, to see him bloody. They wanted to see him Dead.

Tatsuya struggled to catch his breath, and closed his eyes. I betrayed her…

He pushed himself up. It hurt, his hand and shoulder hurt, and he was starting to feel the metallic taste of blood creep into his mouth. He spat, and stood to face those against him.

Kara remained back, her back against the arena wall and the small rivulet that ringed it. Slow, shifting, flowing motions kept a large halo of water around her.

Shu was closer, heavy footed steps slowly brought him around the Captain. He was circling, looking for an opening.

Kara struck first, taking the long lash from around her, stretching it through the air, and attempting to coil it around Tatsuya.

A shift in his form, and a heavy fisted strike to his side brought a fiery explosion to his side, breaking the Water Bender's attack before it could surround him.

This gave Shu the opening he'd waited for. He stomped the ground with one foot, raising the other up, a two quick jabs, and a twisting kick sent a trio of harsh stones toward the Captain.

Tatsuya mirrored the Earth Bender, though he did it with more Fire Nation in his movements. A pair of quick jabs and a side kick sent vibrant flames out to crash against the incoming stones. They didn't shatter, but the force of the flames was enough to knock them from the air.

Shu grimaced, Tatsuya smirked. Kara attacked again.

Another long serpentine expanse of water, this time arching high in the air, intended to come crashing down upon the young Fire Bender. The stands roared in approval.

Tatsuya brought his right hand low, a long sweeping arch that nearly scrapped the ground, his left pulled back until the moment his right came down across it, completing the arch. He brought his broken fist forward, and a large cloud of burning color burst forth.

The wave crashed down into it, hissing and howling as a steam could soon swallowed both warriors. The cloud crashed against the arena wall and roared up with such furry the spectators clamored back. Shu summoned a stone wall and ducked behind it as the super heated cloud poured over him.

And for a moment all was quiet. The fans waited with baited breath for the steam to clear and show them the boiled Fire Bender. The combatants bided their time while waiting for the fog to lift and reveal them to each other.

Footsteps broke the silence as the steam held. The fans leaned in, trying to see who they were coming from.

The benders knew better. The footsteps were heavy, but fast, an Earth Bender's steps are heavy, and a Water Bender's fast, but metal boots make for a weighted step, and burning drive for a fast one.

Shu leapt from behind his barrier, and trusting both fists forward send a long fissure tearing through the earth toward the source of the sound.

Kara stepped in three quick circles, and pulled her arms in close to her chest. The steam cloud pulled in, and Tatsuya was revealed, charging for the Earth Bender.

The fissure had missed. Shu pulled a leg up, and a stone shard pulled up with it. He kicked, and the shard tore out toward the Fire Bender.

Tatsuya leapt forward, throwing himself over the Earth Bender's attack. He landed on his hands, and locked his legs together, twisting himself forward a long tail of orange fire blazing out from his legs.

The Captain brought his heels crashing down on where Shu stood. The Earth Bender pulled himself back, legs together, arms flat against his chests, and with that motion a stone shield leapt up, and a moment later it was sent shattering apart in a cloud of smoke and fire as Tatsuya's heels came down upon it.

Shu was sent stumbling back, off balance, a dangerous thing for an Earth Bender. Tatsuya took advantage. He twisted to his feet, bringing a storm of fire around as he did, pushing the Earth Bender further back.

The Captain surged forward, not giving Shu a chance to regain his footing, a quick jab, a stone shield, a spinning kick, and a burning crescent and, Shu fell. Tatsuya double stepped forward, a fist raised for the final blow.

He brought his fist down, orange flames cracking form it, but the blow never landed. An aqua lash coiled around his arm, tightened, and pulled back. The Captain was nearly lifted from the ground, and pulled halfway across the arena back toward the Water Bender Kara.

Tatsuya flipped himself upside down, bringing his heels crashing into the water whip. There was a sizzling flare of smoke and steam and the lash broke, dropping the Captain onto the ground with a significant thunk.

The ground trembled, and snapping his heel into the ground beneath him, and sending a twisting trail of fire beneath him Tatsuya shot himself up onto his hand, just his right, his left still damaged.

A rolling wave or rock and stone swept through where he'd once laid, and with a motion the Earth Bender Shu brought a jagged protrusion bursting for, intent on cleaving the Captain's back. The stone cracked against the Captain's armor, but didn't penetrate it. The force knocked Tatsuya back onto his feet, although he was rather awkward landing, Ty Lee made it look easy.

Kara tried to strike again, but wasn't given a chance. The Captain send a curling spiteful tail of flames her way, and in the same moment she brought a sizzling end to it, he send a new crackling crescent toward her with a twisting side kick.

Not sparing a moment Tatsuya turned to address the Earth Bender. He had his hands up… admitting defeat? No, they were in fists.

They were in a cave! Stalactites!

The Captain send a hurried eye upward, only just in time to see a large pointed structure of limestone trembled and fall down upon him like a great stone spear of the heavens.

The thing was too large to dodge, and too massive to parry, his only choice was to attempt and destroy it.

The Captain send his right foot back, and brought his unbroken hand down into chamber, striking the strongest Earth Bending stance he knew. He would not die like this! He would not die here! He had a duty; an honor bound promise to Princess Azula! He would see her again, he would not die!

Wide eyed, teeth grit and blood boiling with drive, Tatsuya send his fist striking forward; mere moments before the massive stone pillar crashed down into the ground not more than an inch from him.

A colossal explosion shook the entire stadium, and a cloud of smoldering dust to match swallowed the Captain as the very ends of the stalactite vanished from sight.

The ground still shook from the weight of the stone spear, and the stands still shook from the thunderous blast.

Shu slowly backed away from the smoldering dust cloud staying in his form. Kara pulled another twisting lash of liquid from the sides, bringing it circling around her, ready to defend herself.

A broken howl pierced the shuttering silence, and as the dust cleared a battered, bloody Tatsuya was revealed. His broken hand clutched over a bleeding right eye. His face was scrapped and tattered from the shards of the stone pillar, and blood ran hot down his face.

He panted, out of breath, and then let out another bloodthirsty, wounded, howl. He sounded like a dying beast. But the howl did its job all the same.

The other Benders were taken back, scared of him, and they should've been. Tatsuya charged, left hand still plated over his bleeding eye. Shu was fist, only because the Earth Bender found himself closest to the blood frenzied Fire Bender. And perhaps, because of some old hatred still lingering in Tatsuya's blood.

It'd been a long time since the Captain had been beaten and bloodied by an Earth Bender…

The Earth Bender pulled back, summoning a large stone barrier between the two. Tatsuya jumped, twisting his waist and bringing his left foot crashing through. Flames and fragments were sent scattering about, but the Captain wasn't done, landing on his left he kept his spin, bringing his right bolting out toward the retreating Earth Bender, sending a burning spear out after him.

A crash of water, and the resulting steam cloud forced both men back.

And send the snarling bloody Tatsuya turned toward the, more than apprehensive now, Water Bender.

A flame-fueled charge, a summoned stone wall, a twisting fiery grasp, and a single scream, and the stands fell silent.

Kara squirmed, twisting and fighting, but Tatsuya held tight around her throat. He stood upon the smoking fragments of Shu's failed defense, and smiled, peeling his broken hand from his bleeding eye, and as his own blood dripped he raised it high. The blood stains caught fire, and boiled away, soon ravenous flames crackled and twisted, hissing and howling in his hand.

He raised it high above the squirming Water Bender, his breath coming in short hot burst, and even his bleeding eye open wide in gruesome anticipation. Azula not there to stay his hand, he steadied his breath, readying for the final strike, and leaned in whispering to her quietly, in the horrified silence that hung from the stands, a quiet simple four word. "Burn for me lovely…" He reached his arm back, high above him and bringing it crashing down!

A stone block crashed into him, knocking her from his grip, and sending him stuttering to the ground, striking twice, before he fell still.

Shu panted, wide eyed, his arms frozen in the strike that had sent Tatsuya down.

Kara knelt, her hands still held to her throat, unable the move, unable to catch her breath.

The stands held silent for a moment, and then erupted in noise.

Fire, had fallen.

-

"Well that was a complete waste of time." Azula practically kicked the door to the apartment in as the three girls returned. The boys weren't with them.

"I don't know I had fun." Ty Lee smiled at her friends, trying desperately to keep them cheery.

"I had fun too." Mai said with a smirk, causing both girls to look at her. "Watching that guy squirm after Azula pushed him into the Armadillo-Lion pit, made my day." She smirked a little more, still speaking in her drab monotone.

"I told you I didn't push him. He tripped." The Princess smirked a little herself, it had been fun to see Chit try his best to become as unappetizing as humanly possible, while simultaneously trying to climb out of the Lion pit as stealthily as possible. "Still, it is too bad. I think I was actually starting to like him."

"Before or after the lion sent him to the hospital?" Mai raised an interested brow, just out of courtesy really. She wasn't terribly interested, but the memory was a fun one, but then again watching pompous boys interact with viscous animals generally was.

Azula sat down in front of one of the vanities and started removing the Kyoshi Warrior make up. "Oh, I think somewhere in-between actually." She actually permitted herself a light snicker.

"Who knew Chit was such a fast runner, huh?" While not entirely comfortable with the actions that had brought about their current conversation, Ty Lee had long ago learned to enjoy any conversation that made the princess smile.

"Say what you like about him, but he was physically fit." Azula leaned back, swatting at her black eye shadow with a damp cloth lightly as she watched herself in the mirror. She really didn't think green was her color, though the gold did match her eyes.

"I wonder if this means Lang's not going to ask me out again…" Ty Lee sat down at her own vanity, just sort of sitting there head in her hands as she stared at the mirror.

"What? Just because one of your friends may or may not have gotten one of his friends mauled by a wild animal? Why would he hold That against you?" Mai busied herself trying to remove her makeup without getting it all over herself, she'd never been very good at the whole, wearing makeup thing in the first place.

"Do you really think he won't mind?" Mai's sarcasm went, as par for the course, unnoticed by Ty Lee.


	31. Fresh Air

Azula pouted, rapping her nails rhythmically on the vanity as she stared at herself in the mirror. She'd long since gotten the last traces of the makeup off, but the truth of it was she had no other place to be.

She had no grand scheme that required her to be somewhere, no appointments with people older and less important than her, no boys to deny going out with. All she had to do was, sit there, tapping her nails rhythmically against the treated wood surface of the vanity, and waiting for Ju Dee to show up and tell them they'd found the Avatar for her, which from the looks of it was going to take longer than her uncle's failed siege.

Azula pinched the bridge of her nose, she didn't know if she could handle six hundred days of this city. She certainly didn't want to spend two years in this accursed city. She didn't want to spend six more days here.

The princess sighed and rubbed her temples lightly. She needed something to clear her head before she gave herself an ever worse headache. Maybe if she actually spent some time in the city, experienced Earth Kingdom life a little, she'd have an easier time living it.

"I'm going out." Azula said, just off handedly as she strode past her friends, Mai was sitting in her chosen spot, the windowsill, doing something with her knives as usual, and Ty Lee was puttering about in front of the front door for some reason.

Mai just sort of glanced at the princess as acknowledgment; Ty Lee however, needed details. "Where're you off to?" She smiled and blinked at the princess, leaning over the side of the small railing that separated the dining area from the entrance hall.

Azula shrugged a little, opening the front door. "I haven't really decided yet… Why care to join me?" It wasn't so much that she wanted company, as it was that it was just polite to ask if someone wanted to come with you when you were heading out for parts unknown.

Lucky for the princess, Mai was just naturally antisocial, and Ty Lee had already made plans. "Nawh, I've got to stick around. Lang's supposed to come over once his friend gets out of surgery."

"Right…" Azula rolled an uninteresting hand around a lock of her hair. "Well, let me know how that goes…" Before she stepped outside and into the bright sun of the Upper Ring.

She sighed again and just sort of started walking. No particular place in mind the Princess decided to take the time to just sort of map out the area, get a feeling for the Earth Capital. That and, though she hated to admit it, sometimes she did need breaks from her friends.

It wasn't that she didn't like them. After all the two of the were, for the most part, the only friends the Princess had ever had. It was simply that one person, even Azula, could only take so much of being around the eternally cheerful and the eternally grim before requiring a moment to take a step back and breathe.

And so she took that moment, strolling down the side of Ba Sing Sei's cobblestone road, hands neatly folded behind her back.

It wasn't a horribly city. And though admittedly they were in the Upper Ring, but there were several things that ran familiar about the city. People were people, regardless of where they had grown up after all.

There were the young children of noble families playing in each other's yards as an excuse for their mothers to get together and gossip about this or about that. There were the stoic noblemen, strolling down the street discussing something which the clearly felt was important while on their way from one place to another.

There were the rebellious teenagers, spoiled to the core, socializing in the splendid, overly done parks or outside opulent tea shops, each completely convinced of their importance to the workings of the universe.

The Princess sighed, choosing to lean against the railing of a small stone bridge as she watched a particular pair of noble teens below her. There was a boy, older than Azula, though not more than three, maybe four years, and a girl, equal to him in age, or perhaps a year or two younger.

He had her hand in his and took her away to the river's edge, not far from where Azula watched. The girl snatched her hand back, though not out of distaste for the boy. She looked worried, likely her parents didn't approve, and the two had stolen away for a moment together.

She said something, and the boy struck a heroic pose, smirking and saying something before the two of them leapt into each other's arms and kiss passionately.

Azula rolled her eyes and kept walking.

It wasn't that she disapproved. It was just that it was such a played out tale, two lovers, forbidden from each other, steal away to be together, defying both their families for their love. Even in the stories, it never ended well.

One of the two, most likely the boy, would die from something or another, possibly at the hands of her family, and then the survivor would be left heartbroken, give a tear felt speech about love or acceptance of something of that nature, and then everyone would hug and everything would be all better.

Except the boy would still be dead, and the girl would still be heartbroken. The stories tended to ignore that rather critical detail.

Sure the world would be better off, everyone would hug, the rivalry or war or whatever would be over, peace and equality would reign over the land forever and so on. Just, the survivor would have to keep going without their lover.

Now maybe they would move on, find someone else, start a new life and leave the tragedy of their old behind. Or maybe they would never get over their lost love, shut down, and become the tragic old woman that lived on the edge of town, the one who children would ask about, the one who would remind their people of the past.

Or maybe they'd give up on living without their lost lover, take their own life to be with each other again, and everyone would have a happy reunion in the Spirit World.

All of was dreadfully stupid as far as the Princess was concerned. The thought of dying for love, it was just… too irrational.

What was the purpose in dying for something that was unique to you and you alone? People who died for a cause could see the cause live on after them. People who died for a dream could see the dream become reality after their deaths. But people, who died for love, they couldn't see their love continue after their deaths. That was it, it was the end.

There were stories, stories about a love so strong that it bound its owners to each other in this world and the next. They generally didn't end well either. A tragic death, a more tragic fate, a promise of vengeance. It was really all rather droll. Nothing like that happened in the real world.

In the real world you went to school. You did what you were told, and you dreamed of adventure in your youth. Then you grew up, you perfected a trade, and found a spouse, perhaps you had some children of your own, encouraged them to dream of adventure as you hurried them off the school.

And then when they were grown they would perfect a trade, find a spouse, and the whole story would begin again.

Not that there wasn't drama in the world, what with the war and all, but one would be hard pressed to find a child, a normal child, who cared. Sure they understood that daddy was going off to fight the villainous others, be them Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom the feelings toward one's enemy was the same.

And certainly the children would be sad if their parent came back in a box or an urn, and perhaps they'd swear vengeance upon their enemies and join the various military to do honor to their father's name, but vengeance was a young person's game, and war had a strange way of making men old before their time.

Take the Captain for example. He was eighteen perhaps nineteen now, Ty Lee had mentioned something about him being born in the spring, but he by no means acted like it. His brow was heavy, his heart was sore, his body had more scars than the Princess could remember, he by no means searched for storybook drama in his life.

Truth be told Azula couldn't help but feel that the Captain wasn't the type of man for war. He held vengeance in his heart to be sure, but vengeance alone cannot make a warrior, and he had no real talent for battle, neither with his halberd no his bending could he be called anything resembling a master. Quite probably if he ever were to encounter a master like the Avatar or his instructors things would end badly for the Captain.

Though what really concerned her, although don't be mistaken, Azula would under no circumstances admit to being concerned for another living thing, but just because she wouldn't admit it, didn't mean it wasn't there. What concerned her was that the Captain didn't care.

He didn't care if he met that master on the battle field, he didn't care if things ended badly for him. He didn't care if he died, he didn't care if he lived…

Azula paused, leaning her back against some blooming tree somewhere in the Upper Ring as she stared up at the glimmering sun through its shaking branches.

If the Captain stayed with her, it was very likely he would die.

He wasn't an elite soldier. He wasn't an acrobat with a mastery of pressure points. He wasn't a self taught knife throwing genius or a Fire Bending prodigy. He was a cook, and if it came right down to it, if he was put in a position where it was win or die, he would very likely die.

"Hey."

Azula looked down. The speaker was a boy, noble by his dress, and rather full of himself by his posture. "Hey."

He smirked a little and scratched at the edge of his nose. "Ya know that tree you're under… it's kinda famous around here."

"Is that so?" The princess sounded almost like Mai. She didn't want to be talking to this boy, and she didn't want to be in this city. She turned her head to one side just sort of staring out at the buildings around her.

"Yeah it's a confession tree…" He smirked a little more and took a step closer. "They, uh say if you confess you love to someone underneath this tree, it'll last for a hundred years."

"And your point is?"

"Well, I guess I was just sort of wondering if you were thinking of anyone in particular." He shrugged a little, rubbing the back of his neck and trying to look particularly handsome. "Cause uh, ya know if you're free…"

"I have a boyfriend." Azula paused for a second after she spoke, blinking for a moment before actually turning to deal with the new annoyance that was trying to hit on her.

"Oh…" It sounded disappointed. "Well uh, where is he?"

"Not here."

The noble boy chuckled lightly, but wasn't going to give up that easily. "Well I can see that. Where is he? Not a very good boyfriend if he stood you up." He smirked a little trying to move in closer.

Azula took a half step around the tree and away from the noble. "He's in the military."

"Ahh…" He nodded like that meant something and for the first time since he'd shown up the princess was actually interested in what he had to say. "That explains it, lemme guess you haven't heard from him in a while right?" Azula raised an eyebrow. "Yeah I see this all the time, can't admit it to yourself yet huh?"

"Admit what?" And Azula was back to just being annoyed with him. Of course now it wasn't because he was a prideful noble boy trying to hit on her, now it was because he thought he knew what she was thinking.

"Admit that he's either, forgotten about you, moved on and found someone else, or isn't coming back." He smirked a little shrugging, acting like he had seen the same scene a million times before. Which given the Earth Kingdom's current record for winning fights, he very well may have.

Even still, the princess of the Fire Nation was not at all happy with the implication. "He's coming back." She glared at the noble, clenching her fists together lightly. "And he hasn't forgotten about me." This was what she hated about the city, everyone in it lived in their own little world, they judged things based upon what They knew, and never even entertained the possibility that things could be different.

"Sure, sure… I'll bet he'll even come back a big hero, and when the war's over he'll sweep you off your feet and carry you off into the sunset with him." The noble shrugged a little shaking his head as he walked, strolled really, around the princess. "That's why he hasn't written you, he's been too busy planning his grand entrance." He laughed a little.

Azula made a note to murder his family after she captured the city. "Well he's clearly busy with something. He has his orders after all." Of course the fact that those orders were from her, and were to quite explicitly, sit still and be quiet, did beg the question of what the Captain was doing with his time.

"Right, 'busy.'" He raised his hands to either side, shrugging as he sort of shook his head. "No way would he forget about you… After all he's only fighting for his life against some of the most ruthless people in the world. No way he'd slip up, miss that one step…" He leaned in, a hand on the tree as he nearly whispered in the princess's ear. "Come on, you know that he isn't coming back… and if he does, he's not going to for you… You know you should just move on… let 'im go and find someone better…" He smirked a little lightly brushing his finger tips across Azula's cheek as he removed a lock of hair form her eyes.

"You don't know what you're talking about." The princess stood away from him, crossing her arms over her chest as she turned her back to the noble. "Tatsuya's not like that… He's loyal and brave and smart. He always does what I tell him, never questions my orders. He's resourceful and intelligent, enduring and would never even think of going against me… He always has my best interests at heart and isn't capable of lying to me…"

"Tsk…" The boy scoffed. "Sounds more like a whipping boy than a lover…" He grinned a little more and leaned over the princess's shoulder, wrapping his arms around her a little. "Come on, you know a girl like you deserves a real man…" He purred into her ear. Azula planted an elbow in his gut, broke one of his feet in two, and sent him twisting into the ground all in a single motion.

She smirked down at him as he curled nursing his broken foot. "Clearly, you've never even met a real man." The princess glared down at the groaning boy. "I'll thank you for the talk, but I'm afraid you're just not my type." She smirked a little more as she turned to head back; waving absentmindedly to the young boy she'd left with a broken foot. "Have a nice day."

A walk had been just what she'd needed to lift her spirits.

Unfortunately her spirits went right back down again the moment she returned to the apartment.

Ju Dee was there waiting for her, still wearing the same smile she had been sporting the last time the 'Kyoshi Warriors' had encountered the Earth King's go between.

"I don't suppose you're here to tell us you've found the Avatar and we can see him whenever we want." Azula brushed passed the eternally grinning woman without as much as a glance. Whatever her purpose there, the princess knew it wasn't going to be helpful.

"No, and though we are looking, and we have located several promising leads as to your friend's location within the city, I am actually here on an unrelated matter…" It was somewhat amazing, and, mildly unnerving, how well the woman was able to maintain her unnatural grin even while speaking.

"Of course you are…" The disguised princess sighed a little, strolling over to between her mutually uninterested friend, and her rather interested in taking smile lessens friend. "And just what might that 'unrelated matter' be?" Azula reached up and took her hair down, simply for the fact that it was more comfortable to have her hair down, and she was 'home' as it were.

"It has come to our attention that a member of your group may or may not have been involved in the events leading up to the unfortunate mauling of an influential member of the Zang family by an armadillo-lion." Azula smirked. So did Mai actually but Ty Lee just sort of winced.

"He tried to kiss me." Azula said, completely innocently, a hand artfully laid across her collar, just to really sell that innocent victim look. "I pushed him back to prevent him, and he tripped, and fell into the beast's cage. I don't see how it could be my fault that the creature attacked him." She smirked a little more. "He shouldn't try to kiss girl outside the pens of dangerous animals is all…"

"We understand that it was not your intention to get the boy mauled…" Ju Dee bowed a little. "And we have already conveyed your sympathies to his family, they will not be moving forward with any legal action…" She rose, still wearing the painful smile. "However, should any such events occur in the future we would appreciate it if you were to inform us personally."

"Oh well then, you might want to know that I broke some boy's foot just recently." The princess didn't even look up from her nails. She was well used to people taking care of the fallout from any injuries she passed about the noble boys, although seeing how her father wasn't actually in charge of this government, it might be a good idea to pull it back a little. Two boys in one day was a little much for her anyway.

"Azula!" Although Ty Lee was the only one who verbally complained. "Geeze, it's no wonder you can't get a boy to like you… getting them mauled, breaking their feet…" She pouted a little, leaning over the railing and tucking her head into her arms as she muttered to herself about the bleak outlook of her friend's love life.

"We'll it's not my fault… If boys weren't such total idiots I wouldn't have to hurt them." She put her hands on her hips, completely convinced that if more women took her approach to boys' behavior than more boys would behave correctly.

Ju Dee's face didn't even twitch; she was growing uncomfortable to look at. "I understand." She bowed again. "We'll see to it that as well."

It was at this point that the normally silent Mai raised an inquisitive brow and spoke. "Who's this 'we' you keep taking about anyway?"

Now this was actually an intriguing question. Azula had long sense been accustomed to various organizations scurrying about to brush over her activities when it came to injuring the 'rougher' sex, but this was Ba Sing Sei, and whatever organization Ju Dee worked for had little incentive to keep Azula out of prison, beyond the fact that perhaps they didn't want to imprison her.

The princess turned back to the uncomfortably happy messenger. "Yes, just who is it that you work for anyway?"

And it was then, just for a moment, just for a second that, Ju Dee didn't smile. "W-well I work for the Earth King of course…" And then the smile was back…

"Well yes, but what organization do your report too? Who pays you? Just what is it that you do other than popping up inconveniently and smiling?" Azula wasn't about to let a conversation that actually caused the walking smile of a woman that was Ju Dee to stop smiling stop without a satisfactory answer.

"W-well… I report to Master Long Feng and his lieutenant within the Dai Lee." Again, just for a moment, Ju Dee's smile was stopped.

"And just who are the Dai Lee?" Now the Princess was truly interested. She remembered hearing about the Dai Lee before, though she couldn't remember where, and though she was kicking herself for not thinking of it earlier, there were only so many types of organizations that could have a use for a woman like Ju Dee.

"Well the Dai Lee are the cultural protectors of Ba Sing Sei." She was back to smiling, and though it was hard to notice, which of course meant Azula was particularly keen to notice, her speech sounded a little rehearsed. "The Dai Lee were founded some years ago by the Avatar himself, though at the time he was a woman. Kyoshi I believe, the same Avatar for whom your home island is named."

She smiled and bowed taking a half step back toward the door. "If you'd like I could arrange a full tour of Ba Sing Sei's many museums for you, and perhaps you could attend one of the classes on our national history at the university, but for now you'll have to excuse me." She bowed again. "I have other matters to attend to elsewhere in the city." She stepped out of apartment. "Goodbye, and please, do refrain from breaking the feet of anyone important for at least the next few days." And she shut the door.

Azula raised an eyebrow at where the programmed woman once stood. "Well, that was interesting…" She smirked a little, curling a lock of her hair around her fingers. Asking about the Dai Lee had stuck a cord somewhere within that empty smile, and there were only so many kinds of organizations that could find a use for someone like Ju Dee, and none of them, to the princess's knowledge, could be accurately described as 'cultural protectors.'

"That was weird." Mai had the same impression, though perhaps different intentions for the information acquired.

"Did you really break someone's foot Azula?" Ty Lee had more pressing matters on her mind.

"Yes Ty Lee, I did, but I had a good reason for it." Azula walked off towards her room, she needed to find out more about these 'Dai Lee.'

Ty Lee pursued her. "Would you like to share your reason with me?" She had to find out more about this foot breaking incident.


	32. Victory

A resounding rumble shook through the crystal tunnels beneath the palace of Ba Sing Sei.

Princess Azula strode down the center of the metal hall, two Dai Lee agents at her sides. "How are the preparations for the acceptance of the Fire Nation's armies into Ba Sing Sei coming?" She ignored the noise absolutely and completely. There were more important things that needed her attention, like surrendering the city to the armies of her father.

After all she had just captured Ba Sing Sei, the greatest and last of the Earth Kingdom strong holds, and she was not about to allow anything to distract her from cementing her victory into the annuls of history where it belonged. And one might be surprised how must effort was actually involved in surrendering a massive walled metropolis to an invading army against the will of its citizens.

The man at the princess's right bowed remaining low as he spoke; Azula hated it when her subordinates were taller than her. "Everything is moving forward as planned, all of your orders are being carried out and while the citizens are currently in a state of mutual fear and confusion, we've encountered little resistance ignoring the occasional disruption."

Another blast echoed through the halls, shaking some dust from the rafters.

Again the princess ignored it; they were in the crystal catacombs where the Dai Lee had relocated after abandoning their base under Lake Laogai. It was doubtful that the noise had malicious origins. More likely it was just some Earth Bending being used for something that Earth Bending was used for. Really, it was such a messy bending art. Fire was so much cleaner.

"Isolate these disruptions and imprison anyone suspected of being involved. We can't allow for even the appearance of weakness in this transitional time." Even if the armies of the Fire Nation were only a few days away, it was rather impressive that the Dai Lee had the man power to occupy the city at all. They were doing the jobs of the police, military, and government, all at once. Of course it helped that they weren't actually fighting a war anymore, and the people of the city already thought of the Dai Lee as ghosts, but it was still impressive.

"As you order princess." This man neither bowed nor remained hunched when speaking with her. "Though if I may princess. The cell block is becoming crowded and the Dai Lee are stretch thin. Without outside support it will soon become difficult to maintain proper security." He rather treated the princess with a modicum more respect, at least enough that he didn't feel the need to hunch while speaking.

"Reprioritize the prisoners, condition and release anyone imprisoned for non-violent crimes and…" Another blast shook through the stone corridors of the catacombs. "And just what is that racket? It's beginning to give me a headache."

"Our apologize princess, it is simple a prisoner rattling his cage." The Dai Lee hardly seemed to have noticed the reverberating din, but they were keen to perceive the annoyance of the princess. "We'll have his fingers broken."

"See that you do. There is no reason to allow any disobedience in this new era. The war is over gentlemen, we've won." Azula allowed herself a tentative smile. It was a nice line, even for her.

The war is over.

It was a lie of course. The war wouldn't end until her father, the Fire Lord, said it did. She'd simply removed one of the more ground-in pockets of resistance of the past hundred years, but there would be others. Their enemies were Earth Benders after all; going underground was practically what they did.

And then there was always the Northern Water Tribe, though now that the Avatar was dead it wasn't all that likely that they'd be too ready to pick a fight, especially since the Earth Kingdom was practically a thing of the past. Ozai could probably get them to surrender under whatever terms he wanted simply by asking for them.

But since when did her father ever ask for something, when he could just take it.

It was an admirably trait really, and there wasn't any actual point in letting people think you cared about them when you really didn't, it generally just cause problems down the line. But it had always seemed to Azula that sometimes even her father could use a little more tact. It just seemed that sometimes, he made things harder than they needed to be, because he needed to do things his way.

Not that she'd ever tell Him that.

"And the scout reports from the surrounding areas?" Azula was down to one agent now, the other gone off to silence the source of the pounding, which it seemed he had rather effectively done.

"We sent a team of agents to Full Moon Bay as you requested, and the refugees there are being detained, awaiting your orders. We were also able to locate the machine you requested, it was precisely where you specified, and we have dispatched a team to ship it back to the city. All remaining Earth Kingdom troops have been dispersed, and the military of Ba Sing Sei has been effectively neutralized."

"And the personnel stationed with the train?" The princess didn't so much as glance back, the machine in question, the Train, sure it was an important piece of Fire Nation machinery, and it was important that it was recovered, but truthfully that wasn't the reason she was interested.

Tatsuya hadn't responded to her messenger hawks. He was supposed to have been waiting with the train; he was supposed to rally the armies of the Fire Nation to march triumphantly into Ba Sing Sei.

Without him Azula had been required to write all the letters of requisition herself, which, while just as effective, meant the princess had to spend time writing them, when she could've been doing other things. Really conquering a city was so much more than replacing a flag.

"My apologize princess, but we were unable to locate any personnel with the machinery, and reports state that it appears to have been abandoned for weeks."

Azula ground her teeth a little, not out of concern of course, so what if the Captain wasn't at his post. It just meant he was either captured, or a deserter. Either way it wasn't the last time the Fire Nation would see him. It might've been the last time they saw him in one piece, but it wouldn't be the last time they saw him. "Alert the Fire Navy that Captain Shouhei is M.I.A. and see to it that the train is ship here in its completion. I'd rather not have to apologize to War Minister Qin for breaking his new toy…"

"As you wish princess." The Dai Lee agent bowed once more before shuffling off in that semi-silent sweeping that Dai Lee moved with.

And with that the princess found herself alone in the crystal catacombs of Ba Sing Sei.

She permitted herself a sigh and rubbed her eyes. It had already been a long day, and it was only noon. And it wasn't like she could rely on Mai and Ty Lee for a moment's peace.

Mai was busy stalking Zuzu in an attempt to convince him he'd actually thought about her for half a second over the past three years, and Ty Lee was busy attempting to convince Lang that simply because she'd overthrown his nation's government and delivered his home to the hands of the enemy didn't mean they had to stop dating.

And Tatsuya was missing in action.

Azula allowed herself another sigh and started walking, heading roughly in the direction of the palace, maybe she could find her brother and harass him a little to lighten her day. That had always worked to lift her spirits back in the day. Although he was in a rather gloomy mood to begin with as of late; something to do with betraying their uncle, or maybe it was just his time of the month. Either way, harassing him was less amusing.

Still that was no reason to let him off easy; after all, she had three years of harassment to make up for. Now she just had to find him.

A task that was a little easier said than done. The city of Ba Sing Sei housed well over three thousand people, and even if he did have a disfiguring facial burn, Zuko could still blend in fairly well, it was a city of refugees after all.

Refugees who at the moment were rather scared and frightened, not that they didn't have reason to be, their last bastion of hope and 'freewill' had just fallen, with them in it. Though most probably didn't realize that Zuko had had any part of that.

And of course Zuko hadn't really figured that out yet.

Azula found him sulking in one of the more dower chambers of the Earth King's Palace. One of the ones that were predominately black, rather than green or gold, and had large bookcases dominating the walls, with the exception of a single fire place somewhere in the center of the room to provide both warmth, and non-green light.

Her brother was sitting hunched over the edge of the fireplace throwing scraps of something into it and watching them burn. It was all very melodramatic and pointless.

"Ah there you are Zuzu." Azula leaned in the doorway crossing one arm over another as she smirked at her brother. "What are you doing in here? I had to look everywhere for you, you know."

He just leaned back in his over sized chair and sort of looked at her. "What do you want Azula?" Though he really more just glanced toward her shadow, he wasn't much feeling like small talk.

She pouted a little. "Well there's no need to be snippy Zuzu, I just came to check up on you." She strolled a little ways into the room, walking around behind her brother's chair as she absentmindedly circled him, letting her hand brush across the broad back of his chair. "You've been so down as of late, I thought you could use some cheering up is all…"

Now at least there was some truth to what Azula was saying. She did want Zuko to feel good about his choices, not because she wanted her brother to be happy mind you, she could careless, but because she wanted her brother to agree with her and therefore be easier to manipulate.

Not that that was lost on Zuko. He wasn't a total idiot. He just sort of started into the fire again, Azula pouted a little again. "We think the Avatar's dead." She offered as a piece of news that might cheer him an ounce.

He responded as if she'd told him that it was sunny outside. "That's nice."

"Nice?" She wasn't too happy about that. "I've just told you that the greatest enemy of our father is dead through our actions, and you think it's 'nice'? You should be happy, the Avatar is dead, your quest is over."

"Through Your efforts." Zuko practically snapped back. "You shot him with lightning… all I did was beat up on a little girl, and betray my uncle."

His sister sighed, and sounded genuinely concerned for a moment. "Zuko… We've been over this. You're not the traitor here." But only because she was really good at faking concern. "And while I understand that that might be a new experience for you, you have to understand. Iroh is the traitor. He betrayed his country, he betrayed his brother, our father the Fire Lord, and he betrayed you Zuko. Why should You feel bad about his betrayal?"

She slid into a chair across from her brother, Azula smirked a little. "After all your life is about to change for the better. You're about to get to come home. After three years, you're going to get to see our homeland again Zuko. Your home."

"I know... I know all that. I know that what I did was right, I know that now I have a chance at restoring my honor, I know that now I'm a hero to my people. I know everything… but…"

"But what?" Really sometimes it felt like Zuko need his answers force fed to him. "But you're not sure if you want to be hero? You're not sure if you want your honor?" Azula laughed a little. "Really Zuko, you sound like someone the Dai Lee have brainwashed. You do know that right?"

"I know…" Zuko feigned a smile at his sister, sometimes it really didn't seem like she was the incarnation of evil. Sometimes it actually felt like she was just his little sister, and was actually concerned for his well being. "I know I'm sorry, I'm… just not used to being the hero I guess." And sometimes, it really felt like he should try to be her older brother.

Of course Zuko wasn't always the best judge of character. "Well you should try and get used to it…" Azula smirked, sort of sauntered up and heading for the door. She stretched her arms out over her head and tucked them together neatly behind her back. "Because it's not something that's going to change anytime soon Zuzu." Before pausing in the door way and sending a smirk, more of a simplistic smile really, back at her brother before stepping out into the hall. "Oh, and Mai's been looking for you."

Zuko smiled back at her. "Thanks…" Before turning back to staring solemnly into the fireplace, he really wanted to believe her. He wanted to believe that he'd done the right thing; that the Fire Nation, his nation, wasn't the evil warmongering country that everyone seemed to believe it was. He really wanted to be one of the good guys…

Azula was actually contemplating having the Dai Lee brainwash him, but from what she'd heard the whole spinning candle thing didn't work very well on Fire Benders, candles tended to explode when you made them angry enough, and crystal light was too constant, they needed the flickering of a flame. Just one more thing that made Fire superior to Earth.

Of course now that Zuko had been confirmed as being a buzz kill the princess was in need of something else to occupy her time. At least until some member of the Dai Lee found her and needed her advice on what to do about rioting cabbage merchants or some such silliness.

Oh don't get her wrong, it wasn't like Azula was avoiding her responsibilities. She actually liked being the central governing figure of an entire metropolitan city; issuing edicts, imprisoning rabble-rousers, outlawing anything remotely negative toward the Fire Nation, and enforcing each and every law as she saw fit.

It was just that good help was hard to find, and while the Dai Lee had an ample supply of willing and ready military forces, they weren't exactly a well oiled machine.

Apparently Long Feng had rather enjoyed micromanaging each and every little thing that went on in the city. He had files on each and every one of the city's citizens, and while Azula was attempting to catch up on her reading; she had only really had a chance to browse through the collection, looking for the most useful or volatile citizens. For various purposes depending on what she'd needed for that particular instance.

But running a city wasn't really for her. It was too much effort. Not that she really minded the effort, but if she was going to plan out the movements of each and every person in a city, she would've rather preferred it if she didn't have to do it in This city.

Ba Sing Sei was a fine place to conquer, but she wouldn't want to rule here. Too many people and not enough things to do. A rare problem admittedly but a serious one none the less; without something to occupy their time people might actually start looking around and realize that their government is corrupt and try to do something about it. That or at least attempt to get in on the action. Either way it was irritating.

As the princess walked about the inner ring it wasn't long before she found herself past the walls of the palace. The upper ring was quiet, quieter than it had ever been when Azula hadn't been in charge. It was, refreshing, a moment's peace out of the constant noise of the past weeks.

But still, the air held the fear of the people, they didn't know what to expect. They'd run to Ba Sing Sei to escape the atrocities of the Fire Nation, and now the Fire Nation was at their door.

She'd have to be careful. Azula thought looking out at the dry and empty city streets. If she gave the people reason to panic the city could erupt into chaos. The Dai Lee were influential and they had things under control, to a degree, but until the Fire Nation Army got to the city, the citizens still outnumbered the Dai Lee considerably.

One-hundred-forty-to-one, or something like it had been the number, it's been stashed away in one of Long Feng's scrolls. Apparently he'd entertained the thought of occupying the city with the Dai Lee before. Too bad he wasn't around anymore to assist in his city's occupation, but Azula couldn't risk mixed loyalties among her men. Long Feng was still in charge, to a degree, but now he answered to her.

The problem was that while a trained Dai Lee agent could maybe take a hundred drunken rabble-rousers, they couldn't deal with a hundred Earth Benders. And if the people figured that out before the Fire Nation arrived and took control of the city, than Ba Sing Sei could very likely burn to the ground.

Or worse they could manage to eject the Dai Lee and Azula with them; she'd be reduced to something like her uncle. Someone who had Ba Sing Sei in the palm of their hands, but let it slip away.

No. She wouldn't let that happen, she couldn't let that happen. Azula would keep the people scared, but just scared enough. Not so terrified that they'd consider making a last stand, but not too comfortable that they might get ideas. Scared, but just scared enough.

And if that meant that she didn't sleep for a few days until the Armies of the Fire Nation arrived than that would be what it took. She would just have to treat herself once all was said and done.

And as if on cue a Dai Lee agent came striding up behind the princess, a messenger. He paused a few steps behind her and knelt before speaking. "Ma'am there's a riot in the outer ring; some place called the Two Twin's Tavern appears to be the center."

Azula permitted herself a light sigh before turning to address this new issue. "Send two dozen agents, pull them from around the palace and the catacomb patrols, imprison anyone even suspected of being involved beneath the palace, and let no word of what's to happen to them out and await my orders." The less the public knew about their new government the better. As long as they were thinking about what might happen to them, they weren't thinking about what they might do to stop it.

"By you word, princess." The man bowed, hiding his face beneath his broad brimmed hat before disappearing back into the shadows like the Dai Lee were so good at.

The princess half turned and tucked a hand beneath her chin. Her brother was useless, he friends were preoccupied, Long Feng couldn't be trusted and the soldiers that could weren't here yet. She turned and stormed back into the Earth King's Palace, no… Her palace. That thought brushed a dangerous smirk across Azula's face.

It was her palace after all. She'd taken control of fair and square. Well maybe not 'fair' and square but it was still hers after all, she had killed the Avatar for it. The princess smiled again.

It wasn't that she'd never conceived of being the one to kill the demi-god. After all it had been clear enough that Zuko wasn't going to do it, and though she'd never personally met that fool Zhao, it was clear enough that while he had the ambition, he hadn't had the spirit for it. It took a certain something to kill a god. Something Azula had, and something those fools didn't, a sort of woman's intuition.

It was a pleasant enough thought, just one more thing that the princess possessed that permitted her the right to hold her head up. Just one more thing that proved her destiny was laced with gold, that her fate was written with triumph and victory in mind. A far cry from her brother's whose soul contribution to their family to date was being born.

Well Zuko's soul beneficial contribution. He'd made others but they were generally things that they didn't talk about outside of the family. Shame, disgrace, treason, it made her sick to think that even now her brother would return a hero, simply for having the good sense to side with the victors.

Of course it wasn't like Zuzu hadn't earned it. He'd done well enough to avoid capture and gain access to Ba Sing Sei after all. Though truthfully Azula suspected that had been more of their uncle's influence than her brother's wit. Of course Iroh wasn't speaking to anyone so it was hard to say; maybe the old fool had finally lost his mind, though he'd seemed lucid enough when he assisted the Avatar's friends…

There was still that last ounce of doubt in Azula mind that she had actually ended the life of the boy god. Sure, every logical vein in her body told her that no one, not even an Avatar could survive being struck squarely with a bolt of lightning, her lightning, but there was still that last ounce of doubt. They didn't have his body after all, and it would be so very like the demi-god to disappear until the absolutely most inopportune moment.

And there was still the matter of the Eclipse.

To be robbed of her Fire Bending… To simply forfeit it for the time she'd been in the city had nearly been too much, but to be robbed of it completely. The simple thought sent an uncommon chill through the Fire Bending prodigy.

Of course it wasn't like the Eclipse should really be something that concerned her. The Fire Sages would no doubt have already foreseen the coming the Eclipse, and the effect it would have on the Fire Benders.

What concerned her was simply that her father had apparently not found fit to share such information with her. Sure it wasn't like she couldn't have handled herself without her bending for a day, or for however long the Eclipse lasted. But one would've thought that it might've come up when he sent her off to mop up Zuko's mistakes.

'Do try your best to apprehend your brother and uncle Azula, oh and, you'll be rendered completely unable to bend sometime this summer, so try not to be anywhere too vulnerable.'

Of course her father would never have mentioned it. Not in such terms anyway.

Finding herself pacing the palace halls the princess took a deep breath and calmed herself attempting to find some destination to head toward, rather than simply aimlessly walking the halls of her captured palace.

Showing concern for something was a sign of weakness. If you were concerned about something it showed your enemies that it can be used against you. The fact that her father hadn't mentioned the Eclipse simply showed how much he trusted her…

He knew he needn't concern himself with her safety. She could take care of herself, more than just herself. After all, she'd been tasked with retrieving her failure brother and traitorous uncle, and now she was returning with Zuzu a hero, Iroh in shackles, the Avatar dead, and the back of the Earth Kingdom broken in half.

Why should Ozai concern himself with her? She could take care of herself, and her idiot brother.

Azula brushed a stray hair from her face and smirked as she survived the Dai Lee's cavernous headquarters. Who knew, perhaps after all was said and done, and if she asked just right, her father would let her keep Ba Sing Sei, for all that she'd done.

It wasn't the throne of Fire Lord, to be sure, but let Zuzu have his little birthright, as long as everyone knew who the rightful heir to their father's name really was, as long as people knew, she was better.

And speaking of people who knew she was better, here came another couple of Dai Lee agents, this time one carried a scroll with him, Fire Nation from the looks of the clasp, no doubt reports of new arrivals.

"Princess, Colonel Mongke and the platoon of Rhinos under his command have just arrived at the outer wall." The Earth Bender knelt offering Azula the scroll.

She absentmindedly uncurled it, skimming over the obligatory congratulations and statement of honor and right on down to the command roster. "Five?" She practically spat. Five soldiers isn't a platoon, five soldiers is hardly a detachment. Azula growled a little and rubbed her brow. What was she going to do with five soldiers? She was trying to occupy a metropolis, she didn't need weapons specialists, she needed man power.

The princess ground her teeth a little before turning back to the Dai Lee. "Thank the Colonel for his prompt response and ask him to patrol the parameter of the outer wall. Ask for reports back on any refugee camps and tell them they have orders do deal with any straggling Earth Kingdom soldiers they encounter as they decide." That ought to brighten Mongke's day, he always was one for hunting down the weak and dying.

"Of course princess." The first agent bowed and shadowed off to do his duty.

Leaving Azula to turn her attention to the second. "And you?"

He bowed and knelt exactly as his predecessor had, really protocol was one thing but a little individuality wouldn't exactly hurt. "We rounded up the involved in the disturbance in the outer ring and are awaiting your instructions as to how to proceed."

Azula curled a lock of hair around one finger and thought for a moment. If she executed them then the people might seek retribution and riot, but if she just slapped them on the wrist than they might think she was weak and inside more disturbances once released. "Keep them locked up for a few days while you condition them, then release a few at a time over the next few weeks."

The Earth Bender bowed, muttering something about following her orders and vanished like the Dai Lee seemed to enjoy doing. Really it wasn't like it took a genius to figure out she was stalling until her reinforcements arrived.

Still it was good they came to her for everything, even if something seemed trivial; if they didn't, they might try to decide something important on their own and then where would they be.

Of course it would be nice if the princess could get some time to herself. Azula hadn't even found the time to check in and see how Mai was reacting to seeing dear Zuzu after three long years. And come to think of it, Azula wasn't even certain her dower friend had had a chance to see Zuko's lovely gift from their father before his banishment.

It would've been nice to see the look on Mai's face when she first got an eyeful of Zuko's new look. If it was half as amusing as the look princess Azula was imagining, then her smile was well deserved.

Still there were kingdoms to conquer, governments to overthrow, and little time to do it in. After all once Sozin's comet passed the war would be over, once and for all.

Now there was a thought that gave the princess pause. The war would be over. Of course it wasn't like Azula had never imagined the war's end. Eventually someone had to win, and of course it was only proper that that someone be her father, Fire Lord Ozai, but there was the question of what would happen to her after the war.

By tradition Zuko would take the throne, and while he might not be the greatest Fire Lord ever, after the comet passed even he couldn't screw things up too much. Iroh would probably still be under whatever punishment Ozai decided for him, death or prison, either way it wouldn't be pleasant. Mai would probably do her best to marry Zuko, and with a little 'gentle' encouragement from Azula it wouldn't be avoided.

Ty Lee… well Ty Lee would probably continue to do whatever it was that made her Ty Lee, at least until her parents decided it was time to marry her off of course that was if they ever remembered they had another daughter to marry off, if memory served they were normally rather preoccupied before their attention finally trickled down to Ty Lee.

And as for the princess, well in all likely hood her father would 'encourage' her to take a husband from one of the noble families, and while she could probably defy him if she really wanted to, once Zuko took the throne there wouldn't be much point.

Azula let out a solemn breath as she strolled the dark halls of the crystal catacombs, hands neatly tucked behind her back as she surveyed the foreign and ancient architecture with minuscule interest. It was very likely that this would be her last visit to the Earth Kingdom, at least while it was still the Earth Kingdom. She had won the war for her father, and her greatest victory, would be her last.

After she returned home she would have to resign herself to manipulating her brother, of course after a little prodding and the proper ground work she was confident that she could get her dear brother Zuzu to do whatever it was she wanted. But still, it wasn't like sitting on the throne yourself, to be the one in charge, to be the Fire Lord.

Just the thought of, being resigned to the shadows, simply because her brother was born first, just because he was her Brother, it put an unpleasant taste in her mouth. Why should he get the power, the prestige, the crown, when she was the one who'd done everything to deserve it?

Azula ground her teeth, before taking a breath and remembering who she was. She was the second born, the prodigal princess, the left hand. Besides there was nothing that could be done about it, short of Zuko's untimely death, and while that did have its upside, it did risk a civil war in the ensuing chaos.

Without her father's blessing Azula would remain condemned to stand behind her undeserving elder brother.

Something exploded, and for a half second Azula questioned if it wasn't her that caused it. The idea of being condemned to her brother's shadow… upset her. But who knew, maybe Zuzu would do something incredibly stupid and get himself killed; it wouldn't be the first time, for the former at least. Besides there were more immediate thing to be concerned with.

Like whatever it was that had caused an explosion in the supposedly secure and relatively secret catacombs. "What was that? Dai Lee, report!" It could've been her uncle, he probably could've escaped a dozen times by now had he the desire to, he'd already twice escape the Dai Lee during the coup.

A trio of the green and black robed benders fell in line before the princess a moment later, their origins both mysterious, and irrelevant. "Our apologizes princess, it would seem that one of the prisoners attempted an escape."

Azula smirked a little, attempted an escape, so his attempt failed. "I trust he didn't get very far."

"No princess, our guards apprehended him within his cell, though two men were burned in the process. But you needed concern yourself."

"The prisoner is a Fire Bender?" Now there was something that was actually interesting. "I thought I ordered all war prisoners freed?" Not that there had been terribly many prisoners of war within the holds of Ba Sing Sei.

"Respectfully princess, the prisoner is not a soldier. He was apprehended within the city sometime before your rise to power. We believe him to be a deserter who was attempting to make a life within the city walls."

"Two of our agents were attempting to break his hands when he assaulted them."

"We don't believe him to be of sound mind. The guards assigned to H bock often report whispering at odd hours, and every day since his incarceration he has battered his cell door in an attempt to escape, often until he draws blood. Thus far, none of his attempts have been successful."

"Clearly or he wouldn't still be here." Azula rolled her eyes lightly. Still a determined Fire Bender could be useful, particularly one vulnerable enough to be twisted into the princess's personal servant. "Take me to see him."

The Dai Lee hazarded a glance toward one another, before bowing lower. "As you wish princess." The three very neatly swept themselves up to their feet, tucking their hands behind their backs, "This way." as they lead the way toward the prison ward of the catacombs.

"Do we know the prisoner's name?" Really Azula was only half interested; a Fire Bender could always be useful to his nation. She could offer him a pardon in exchange for his assistance securing the city, or if nothing else they could publically execute him as proof that they judged all equally.

"No princess…"

"We have been, informally, referring to him as 'Berserker', princess."

"A lovely prison nickname, of which I'm sure he'll be very proud if we release him." The princess smirked a little, really just half amusing herself as she followed the two Earth Benders. "Assuming that he's not actually insane… Of course if he is I want him to be executed as a public showing of our devotion to the equal distribution of justice in the new world." She was reminded of why she didn't normally attempt to amuse herself. It was troublesome, and people could be given the wrong idea.

"Of course princess." The three agents nodded as they arrived at the cell block in question. There were at least a dozen cells but only had two Dai Lee standing at its sides, and slightly smoking edges.

Azula smirked a little. There were so few reasons the Dai Lee would have two guards stationed at one cell, even if on the books they were simply assigned to the same cell block, they chosen to stand at the side of the one door in that entire block that happened to look like it might give way. Either they actually thought the door might give way, which judging from the bolted hinges wasn't likely, which left the other option.

They were afraid of their captive.

Perhaps not consciously or even noticeably, but the fact of the matter was that somehow at some point the man on the other side of that cell door had done something that had burned his image into the memory of the guards. Something that they didn't want to see repeated.

The princess kind of liked him already; hopefully he wasn't quite as insane as the Dai Lee seemed to believe he was. Of course even if he was it wasn't any big loss.

The Dai Lee opened the door, the two that had been at the cell door took a half step in the moment the heavy iron thing was clear, and with a simple shadow of motion, had their stone gloves around the prisoner's wrists holding them over his head, pinning him to the wall, and forcing him to his feet.

Azula strode in just far enough to stand in the center of the small metal room. A quick glance told her enough, the door bore scorched red stains, and the prisoner's knuckles were raw, two of the fingers on his left looked misaligned, broken but never put back in place. His hair was greasy, and while it couldn't by any stretch of the imagination be called kept, it didn't look completely a shambles, and even as the man was pinned to the wall as a rag doll, his feet not too high to reach, but still he let himself hang.

There was still a shadow of the man he had once been clinging to him, broken, and hanging on but by a thread, but still there, it would be enough.

"Prisoner. What is your name." She didn't ask so much as commanded him to respond, her arms crossed neatly behind her back. She held herself as she would if addressing a soldier, a subordinate, not a captive.

"I betrayed…" The prisoner didn't so much speak, as breath. His eyes were unfocused distant, his right milky and white. He wasn't in his cell, he wasn't with his body, he was someplace past.

"That's all he ever answers, Princess." The Dai Lee at Azula's side volunteered. "He just claims that he betrayed some woman… it's all he ever says."

Azula paused for a moment. And then took half a step closer to the rotting man, she leaned lightly to one side, tilting her head to look up past the tangles of the prisoner's bangs, to see his face. There was something familiar about him. "Tatsuya?"

Author's Notes- Eh, I'm not too happy with this chapter. I feel it tries too hard, but it's really just a ground work piece anyway, I needed to get things done, so I got them done.

I should be back into full swing with the next chapter.

I hope.

No promises.


	33. Devotion

An un-summoned silence seems to fill the small iron cell to its breaking point. Princess Azula trying to conceive of why Tatsuya would be imprisoned by the Dai Lee, the Dai Lee trying desperately to understand why their princess knows the Berserker's name, and Tatsuya; well he wasn't entirely willing to believe that the Azula who stood in front of him at that moment, was anything more than a fabrication of his mind.

Then the moment passed, and Azula feel back to the cold sharpness that was her nature. "Leave, now." She spoke and orders, and for only a second did the Dai Lee hesitate. It wasn't doubt in her that caused them to pause; it was the nature of the order. Such cold words were enough to freeze them in their place, but they bowed, and backed from the cell, dropping the captain and recalling their gloves before closing the door behind them for more their own sake than the princess's.

Tatsuya fell limply to the ground, his legs folding under him, not from weakness, but from unwillingness to stand. His arms fell to his sides and the broken solider hung his head.

Once her guards had gone, and the proper time had passed to ensure they were as far away from the door as their duty would allow. The Princess knelt to one knee, reached forward, and tentatively, almost unwilling to allow herself to, she swept the greasy tangles from the captain's face.

His eyes weren't the same as before. They were darker, though the injury still presented itself, these eyes were finally seeing her. "Tatsuya…" The simple whisper of his name brought him back. The captain's eyes widened, he blinked for what seemed like it must've been the first time in a long while, and lifted his head.

"P-" His dry lips caught against each other as he tried to speak. "Princess…"

He tried to lift his arm, and reached for her face, but he cast his gaze aside, and pulled his hand back as if touching her would burn. The captain opened his mouth to speak again, but fell silent. He'd betrayed her, and now she was on bended knee before him.

"Tatsuya what happened to you? You were supposed to wait." Azula only half scolded; despite herself she was showing her relief over the Captain's safe return. Though perhaps death would've been preferable to a return such as he was, to die in service to a royal would've been an honor, but to return in such a broken state. It was a blessing he had no family to disappoint.

"I betrayed you Princess… I lied and betrayed you, and I deserve all which has been brought against me and more." The man seemed near tears. "I disobeyed your orders, I left my post and found entry to the impenetrable city, I sold my service to the enemies of our nation, and worse, my motives were concern for you…" The captain's head seemed to rock back and forth across his shoulders, wanting to turn back to her, but unwilling to let himself. "I should hold no concern for you… I am… the degenerate son of a twisted man and a broken woman… you…" He turned back to her, nearly reverently holding her image before him as he looked, almost pleadingly up at her. "You're the daughter of a king and a noble… child of a line of heroes and conquerors and champions and… and…"

He struggled to find his words, and again reached forward, this time, gently pressing his broken hand against the Princess's check. Her first instinct was to knock it away, but the simple thought of, wounding, the already broken man before her stayed her. And instead she felt herself lay her cheek against his hand, her eyes slowly falling closed as she felt the, simplicity of the captain's action.

"An-and… you're perfect." He was not… capable of lies anymore, he wasn't even capable of tainting the truth. His words caught not for fear or weakness of them, but for lack of them. He was not speaking that which he needed, he was speaking truth, as near he knew it.

The captain pulled his hand back, and took his eyes from the beauty before him. "And I betrayed you." His words seemed to sting him as he spoke. "I… I fought in the armor of a noble, I fell as a son of Fire, and I was…" His face fouled itself at the memories of his shame. "I failed as a Fire Bender, I failed and betrayed and lied and, and…" He seemed to tear himself back to look at the princess. "And you're just… so perfect."

Tears fell from Tatsuya's eyes as he tried desperately to redeem himself in his own mind. His princess was there before him, and he was, filth before her. He was a taint to her presence, he held as much place before her as a beggar child held before a king, and still he wanted for her, her scent, her place, her fury, her fire, undeserving as he was he wanted it still.

The princess smiled. And stood before him, her arms crossed behind her as she seemed to loom over him in judgment. The captain held his head low, a death her hands was more than he could ask for. "You still have use to me Captain Shouhei." These simple word seemed to freeze the soldier in his place, barely able to raise his head to look up. "Despite your failure you're still an asset to myself and the Fire Nation. I expect you to clear yourself up and present yourself before me by morning tomorrow. I'll not allow any tardiness and despite your previous actions you are still a solider of this nation, so I expect you to conduct yourself as such. Are we Clear captain?"

The moment seemed to hold itself. Tatsuya's heart seemed to struggle to take its next beat. Azula stood with a self satisfied smile upon her face. And then, in what seemed a single movement, the captain rose to one knee, crossed his right arm over his chest, and held his left behind him as he bowed before the Princess anew. "I swear to you Princess Azula, my sword, my shield, and my soul itself shall be beholden only to your command. I shall never doubt, I shall never disobey, and I shall always act only in your betterment. I swear to you, Divine Princess Azula." Vigor, Heart, and most predominately Faith held itself renewed in the captain's words. He was unbroken, unbound, and reborn. "I am at your command, Princess."

And there was only one word which rang itself unable to leave the Princess's mind. "D-divine?" A shifting smile found its way to Azula's face, unable to fix itself there, and unable to leave until Azula recomposed herself. She raised her hand to her lips and hid the uncomfortable smile until her cool demeanor restored itself. "Yes, well." She turned toward the door. "I trust that you are."

Azula smirked a little, half stepping toward the door, taking a moment to recognize the red stains there as long dried half burnt blood, and knocked twice on the iron door.

Tatsuya stood, arms crossed neatly behind his back. He took a swipe at his hair, attempting to reshape it.

The Dai Lee opened the cell, and for a moment the stoic Earth Benders looked rather confused. Azula stood before them cool, collected and calm as ever, and the man they knew as Berserker stood behind her, strapped with near military precision, standing in stark contrast to the broken half-crazed man they had known.

"See to it that the Captain gets any assistance he requires." The princess smirked, the look on the two guards was absolutely priceless, if they had any doubts about her before, the apparent transformation of 'Berserker' had absolved them. "And see to a change of clothes for him as well. Something suitable."

Azula smirked a little more, leaving the puzzled guards behind as she strolled down the prison halls, her stride a little, though had better believe not noticeably, lighter.

The Dai Lee had left the cell open, perhaps not deliberately, but it was open none the less, and Tatsuya took two steps through the doorway before the guards again turned their attention toward him. The two forces stood there, studying one another. The Dai Lee uncertain of whether or not they should attempt to keep him in his cell any longer. They certainly didn't look like they wanted to.

But then again, Tatsuya no longer looked as though he should be kept in a cell. His hair, though still unwashed was cast back, neater, the tangled bangs holding the rest at bay. His rags too were adjusted, still rags, but now worn with pride. He looked like a knight playing dress up, or a cast-away noble. Neither of which he was, but as the Dai Lee knew little of him, and less of this 'new' him, they almost saluted him as he passed, and did join him in file.

Azula smiled slightly to herself as she strode through the halls of the Dai Lee's underground. Someday she'd have to have Tatsuya tell her the whole story of what had just happened, but for now it was simply enough that he had been returned to her. And a more apropos moment could not have been found if the Princess herself had chosen it.

Two days later the Dai Lee brought the walls of Ba Sing Sei to knee before the armies of the Fire Nation. The city was once and for all truly in the grasp of the Fire Nation, and though the people shivered in fear, the Fire Nation's soldiers swarming over their city like Scorpion-Bees looked for a reason to sting. The Princess's duties were far from finished.

The Fire Nation needed leadership, and once the necessary congratulations and praise were out of the way, it became rather clear that that leadership was coming from her father, and not her. The generals and commanders of the Fire Nation hailed to Ozai as their master, and Azula as their ally. She captured a throne, for her father.

And she was not expected to keep it any longer than necessary. Of course however long necessary was, was very much up to her, the Dai Lee were, apprehensive to say the least about taking order from Fire Nation men, and the Soldiers of Ozai were skeptical about the allegiances held by the turncoat Earth Benders. Now sure enough the Dai Lee were loyal to Azula till their deaths, but the men of the Fire Nation were loyal to Ozai, and though Azula was his daughter, she was not the Fire Lord.

What was needed was a splitting of the hair. Someone the Fire Nation could call one of their own, and someone the Dai Lee would not question. Someone who was not Earth, or Fire, but both.

"…as you can see General the former Earth Kingdom Capital is now completely under our control, thanks in large part to the Dai Lee." Princess Azula smirked a little as she showed General Shu of her father's armies around the stolen Palace of the Earth King. She turned and took a comfortable seat in the Earth King's throne, crossing her legs just to emphasis that she was in power here.

"I agree princess…" The General admired the Earth King's Throne room as he spoke, clearly he had held doubts about whether a Fire Nation solider could ever stand where he now stood. "It would seem you've won us a powerful ally in these Dai Lee." His tone bore just a sliver of suspicion, half cast glances betraying him as he took note of where the Earth Bender Guards stood within the room. "I understand you're to be returning to the Homeland once things here are settled?"

Azula fought the urge to roll her eyes, all the Generals were the same, they just wanted her out of their way so they could fight the war their way. Like their way would've have taken another hundred years to capture the impenetrable city. "Yes, I've grown to miss home in my time in the Earth Kingdom, and with the death of the Avatar, and my brother's safe return there's no longer any reason for us to be here." The Princess smirked a little, eyeing her nails, just to add that slight prick of boredom to her words.

"Well then I suppose you'll be placing a reagent in command of the city?" And there it was, Shu like most of the Fire Nation, wanted to know who was going to be put in command of the Earth Kingdom Capital now that it was theirs.

Not that it wasn't an important job, and whomever Azula appointed would be under tremendous scrutiny. If she appointed a general, a commander, or even a war hero, than the city would be run by an occupying force. The people would be treated like prisoners, and any showing of resistance from them would likely be squashed by overwhelming and unnecessary force.

However if she were to appoint a noble, or even one of her family's oldest allies, then the city would be run as a personal badge of honor. The people would be ignored, and only the most grievous showings of resistance would be put down. Sure eventually the people would come around, and it would be harder for them to find the will to resist if their enemies weren't shoved in their face every day, but there was a third option.

"Actually the Dai Lee have provided for that as well." Azula smiled a little and gestured to a rather unnerving woman at her right. "General I'd like you to meet Joo Dee, she'll be the official reagent in charge of Ba Sing Sei after my departure. She's really quite perfect for the job." The princess smirked a little and the brainwashed woman bowed.

"I look forward to serving my Fire Nation hosts to the utmost." She wore that disturbing smile that even Ty Lee had failed to imitate.

The General adjusted his collar. "Hmph… yes well… I'm sure if she's your appointee than she'll do fine Princess." He was clearly just a little unnerved by the woman himself. Not that it wasn't a perfectly natural reaction to the disturbingly pleasant woman, she rather gave off the impression that if she were ever to tilt her head, suds would drip from her ears.

"But as to the subject of the Dai Lee…" And again the General showed his lack of faith in Azula. The Dai Lee were Earth Benders, and had already betrayed once, so of course he was going to ask what the Princess planned to do with them now that they were superfluous. "Might I ask whom your ladyship has appointed to lead them in your absence?"

Another, if less public, important position. The Dai Lee were already the most powerful organization in the city, and if whoever was place in charge of them were the least bit disloyal, or questionable, than the whole city would be made more vulnerable. While if their commander lacked the faith of his subordinates, than the power of the Dai Lee could be lost, a man like the General would find it distasteful to rely on the strength of non-Fire Nation soldiers for anything. But luckily the Princess had already given that some thought as well.

And here her answer came striding down the hall to the throne room, Fire Nation Armor on his shoulders, and Dai Lee soldiers at his sides. The man wore ill fitting armor, it wasn't personal, despite being that of a commander, and a black leather swatch obscured his right eye. Tangled locks fell before his patched eye, and he seemed to carry with him more than the weight of his stride. Something about him seemed, older, than it should've been, and little expression shown upon the man's face.

The General and he exchanged glances as he passed, taking but a few steps father before he and Dai Lee at his sides fell on bended knee before the Princess. "The rioting in the north quarter has been putdown Princess, the Lieutenants of Generals Fong and How were apprehended at the scene; however a third took his own life before being identified." He ignored the Fire Nation General's presence so completely, it was almost inoffensive.

Azula leaned on one hand and smirked down and the pawns before her. "Very good Commander, I'm glad you're here," As if she hadn't planned them to return while the General was in her company. "I'd like you to meet General Shu. He's one of my father's most trusted soldiers, and will be assisting in the occupation of Ba Sing Sei."

The two men turned to address each other, each giving the other the Fire Nation's bow. "General, I'd like you to meet Special Commander Tatsuya Shouhei. Commander Shouhei will be taking charge of the Dai Lee until further notice."

Tatsuya bowed again. "It's an honor to make your acquaintance General, I look forward to working with you under Princess Azula."

The General did not return it. "Yes well… I believe we'll be working closely once the Princess returns to the homeland." Instead the elder man stroked the small black beard upon his chin. "Shouhei was it? I'm not familiar with that name. You're not from the Fire Nation are you?"

"Commander Shouhei is from the colonies General." Azula responded before the recently promoted captain had a chance. "He served under me during my hunt of the Avatar, and though he was captured by the enemy before the fall of Ba Sing Sei, I would trust him with my life." The last words seemed to give their speaker a moment's pause. "Regardless you can be assured that the Commander has nothing but the Fire Nation's best interests at heart, and the Dai Lee are more than willing to follow him, isn't that correct?"

The two Dai Lee that had entered at Tatsuya's sides, nodded their heads, and spoke in unison. "Of course Princess. The Dai Lee are at yours and Commander Shouhei's command."

Azula smirked a little and descended from her throne. "Well if that is all General, I'm quite tired, and wish to return to my quarters for the time being. Commander if you will occupancy me?"

"Of course Princess." The look on the General's face was simply priceless. Not only had every position he'd thought to ask about already been filled, but with people who he couldn't help but feel were better for it than himself, and on top of that someone he'd never heard of was now standing at the right hand of the Fire Lord's daughter, privy to more trust than himself!

It was a good day.


End file.
